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Full text of "The Stars and Stripes, Mediterranean: July 27, 1944"

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fRIPES 


Vol.  1,  No.  43,  Thursday,  July  27,  1944 


MEDITERRANEAN 


Published  In  Italy 


TWO  LIRE 


8th  Army  8 Miles 
South  Of  Florence; 
Foe  Checks  Yanks 


Artillery,  Morfar  Fire 
Holds  Up  Doughboys 
In  Pisa  Area 


ADVANCED  ALLIED  HEAD- 
QUARTERS, July  26— Eighth  Army 
troops  rolling  northward  on  a 30- 
mile  front  below  Florence  had 
reached  one  point  eight  miles  from 
the  south  edge  of  the  city  today 
while  to  the  west  stepped  up  enemy 
artillery  and  mortar  fire  continued 
to  check  the  advance  of  5th  Army 
forces  holding  positions  In  the 
southern  part  of  Pisa. 

[The  German  News  Agency  re- 
ported that  a ’’large  scale’*  as- 
sault had  been  launched  south  of 
Florence.  There  was  no  Allied 
confirmation  of  the  claim.] 

The  principal  8th  Army  thrusts 
appeared  to  be  moving  through  the 
valleys  of  the  Pesa,  Greve  and 
Aurno  Rivers.  Farthest  point  of  ad- 
vance was  up  the  Pesa,  western- 
most watercourse,  where  New  Zea- 
landers threw  their  tanks  up  both 
sides  of  Highway  2 to  reach  posi- 
tions two  miles  southwest  of  San 
Casciano.  This  particular  area  was 
described  as  some  of  the  best  tank 
country  on  the  British  front. 

British  troops  in  the  middle  route 
— =up  the  Greve  River — reached  a 
point  just  south  of  Mercatale,  ten 
miles  from  the  Florence  outskirts, 
while  in  the  Arno  Valley,  to  the 
southeast  of  Florence,  the  farthest 
point  of  advance  was  to  within 
about  13  miles  of  the  prize  city. 

On  the  5th  Army  front,  where 
the  struggle  for  Pisa  went  into  its 
fourth  day  yesterday,  the  Germans 
not  only  stepped  up  their  artillery 
against  the  Yanks  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  city  lying  south  of  the  Arno 
River,  but  also  increased  mortar 
fire  onto  points  where  crossings  of 
the  river  might  be  made.  Increased 
use  of  nebelwerfers,  multi-barreled 
German  mortars,  was  reported  all 
hlong  the  5th  front 


Leaning  Tower  Used 
By  Krauts  As  OP 


By  Sfft.  AL  KOHN 

Stars  and  Stripes  Staff  Writer 

A CP  NEAR  PISA,  July  26— Ger- 
man troops  are  using  the  leaning 
tower  of  Pisa  as  an  observation 
post  advanced  infantry  and  artil- 
lery observers  reported  today,  and 
the  possibility  was  growing  hourly 
that  our  troops  might  be  forced  to 
shell  the  historic  city. 

”1  can  see  four  or  five  Jerries 
with  binoculars  in  the  top  part  of 
the  tower.”  Lt.  CoL  Glen  C.  Long, 
Grimes,  Oklahoma  said  in  a tele- 
phone report  from  his  battalion  OP 
this  morning.  His  eyewitness  state- 
ment verified  descriptions  of  Ger- 
mans in  the  leaning  tower  by  Capt. 
George  S.  Bunnell  Blairstown, 
Penn.  A field  artillery  observer,  Lt 
Edward  Bott,  Denver,  a cannon 
company  observer.  Lt.  Joseph  W. 
Wessendorf,  Richmond,  Texas,  Capt 
Gordon  H.  Stevens,  Hudson,  N.  Y., 
a company  commander,  and  Capt 
Robert  F.  Muller,  Whitestone,  N.  Y. 

Enemy  use  of  the  historic  wonder 
of  the  ancient  world  plus  indica- 
tions that  many  Germans  are  in 
Pisa  seemed  to  be  bringing  near  the 
time  when  Allied  artillery  would 
make  another  ’’Cassino  monastery” 
of  the  great  city  of  the  renaissance. 

”If  our  reports  show  that  Pisa 
has  become  a military  Objective,” 
said  Maj.  Arthur  Peterson.  Minne- 
apolis, in  a division  military  artil- 
lery headquarters,  ”we  will  fire  on 
it.” 

Leaving  nothing  to  chance  the 
Yonks  were  gathering  their  evi- 
dence in  the  same  meticulous  man- 
ner which  they  used  at  Cassino. 
( Continued  on  page  8^ 


COIFFEUR  A LA  CHERBOURG 


FRENCH  GALS  accused  of  submitting  to  the  charms  of  German 
officers  were  rounded  up  recently,  given  a hair-do  and  paraded 
through  the  street*  of  Cherbourg  in  a truck  bearing  placards  read- 
ing: ”The  collaborators*  hearse.”  (Photo  through  PWB) 

Opposition  Mounts 
In  Normandy  Battle 


Gains  up  to  3,000  yards  on  a 
wide  front  in  the  area  west  of  St. 
Lo  in  Normandy  had  been  made  by 
American  forces  up  to  Wednesday 
night  as  the  renewed  offensive  on 
the  western  end  of  the  Allied  bat- 
tlefront  was  in  its  second  day.  The 
Yank  push  was  progressing  satis- 
factorily, according  to  SHAEK 

British  and  Canadian  troops 
astride  the  Caen-Falaise  road  south 
of  Caen  were  meeting  increasing 
Nazi  opposition  from  infantry  and 
armored  units  suported  by  heavy 
artillery  located  on  both  sides  of 
the  Orne  River. 

At  least  two  Panzer  divisions 
were  opposing  the  British-Canadian 
drive,  according  to  a SHAEF 
spokesman  and  numerous  enemy 
counterattacks  were  launched 
throughout  the  day. 

A Reuter’s  correspondent  de- 
scribed the  resistance  in  the  Caen 
sector  as  *’of  unprecedented  feroc- 
ity and  pitch  which  can  hardly  be 
surpassed.” 

British  gains,  varying  from  1,000 
yards  to  a mile  on  a front  extend- 
ing from  the  west  bank  of  the  Orne 
to  Tilly  la  Campagne,  were  being 
consolidated.  The  latest  front  line 
dispatches  indicated  that  the  vill- 
ages of  St.  Martin  de  Fontenay  and 
Verrieres,  between  the  Orne  and 
Tilly  La  Campagne,  were  in  Allied 
hands. 

Allied  Air  Forces  continued  to 
give  powerful  support  to  the 
ground  troops.  Many  strategical 
missions  were  carried  out  by  fighter 
bombers  and  medium  bombers  in 
direct  response  to  requests  from 
Allied  ground  force  commanders. 

In  addition  to  the  strategical  mis- 
sions, Allied  planes  ranged  far  over 
France  and  Germany  through  Tues- 


Soviet  Army  26  Miles 
From  Border  Of  Reich 


Here  are  the  latest  distances 
from  forward  Allied  battlelines  to 
the  borders  of  Germany: 

From  west  of  Grodno — 26  miles  to 
Germany’s  eastern  frontier. 

From  Pisa — 216  miles  to  Ger- 
many’s southern  border. 

From  east  of  Caen— 276  miles  to 
Germany’s  western  border. 

Early  Press  Time! 

An  early  press  run  is  necessary 
to  Insure  the  fastest  and  widest 
distribution  of  the  paper  at  the 
front.  The  Stars  and  Stripes, 
aooordingiy,  closes  its  forms 
at  2030  hours  and  carries  all  the 
news  received  up  until  that  time* 


day  and  Tuesday  night  in  attacks 
against  Nazi  industrial  targets  and 
other  vital  objectives. 

RAF  Lancasters  dropped  many 
six-ton  blockbusters  on  a large  con- 
crete structure  in  the  Pas  de  Calais 
area. 

RAF  heavy  bombers  Tuesday 
night  blasted  Stuttgart  for  the  sec- 
ond night  in  a row  and  dropped 
30,000  heavy  Incendiaries  within  the 
space  of  15  minutes.  Other  RAF 
bombers  bombed  Frankfurt, 
Bremen.  Mannheim  and  Ascheo. 

FDR  Will  Be  Notified 
Formally  Of  Nomination 

CHICAGO,  July  26— Robert  E. 
Hannegan,  Democratic  National 
Chairman,  said  today  that  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  would  be  notified 
formally  of  his  renomination  by 
the  Democratic  national  conven- 
tion when  he  returns  to  the  White 
House. 

A committee  composed  of  one 
person  from  each  of  the  48  states 
and  the  possessions  will  wait  upon 
the  President.  Hannegan  said  the 
President  was  on  the  West  Coast 
when  the  telegram  of  convention 
chairman  Senator  Samuel  Jackson 
informed  him  of  his  renomination. 


Soviet's  At  Vistula 
In  Warsaw  Drive 

Two  Giant  Battles  Reaching  Climax  Near 
Bialystok  and  Lwow;  Germans  Fleeing 

Bulletin 

LONDON,  July  26 — Soviet  troops  have  captured  Narva,  big 
Estonian  port  on  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  Marshal  Stalin  an- 
nounced tonight  in  a special  order. 

LONDON,  July  26 — Soviet  armies  reached  the  Vistula  River 
today  in  their  drive  for  Warsaw  as  two  giant  battles  neared  a 
climax  at  the  Polish  cities  of  Bialystok  and  Lwow. 

A Soviet  communique  announced  that  Red  armies  had  com- 
pleted encirclement  of  German  forces  defending  Lwow  and  were 

engaging  the  Nazis  in  furious 
fighting  at  the  ’’immediate  ap- 
proaches” to  Bialystok. 

Northeast  of  Bialystok,  Rus- 
sian forces  were  within  26  miles 
of  the  south  border  of  East  Prussia 
in  a new  drive  which  threatened 
to  outflank  thousands  of  Germans 
fighting  west  of  the  Niemen  River  , 
between  Kaunas  and  Grodno. 

[The  German  News  Agency  an- 
nounced the  Russians  had  opened 
a great  new  offensive  east  and 
northeast  of  Kaunas  in  Lithuania. 

A Russian  advance  from  Kaunas, 

75  miles  east  of  Tilsit  and  140 
miles  due  east  of  Koenigsberg,  to 
the  Baltic  Sea  would  cut  off  an 
estimated  40  German  divisions  in 
the  Baltic  states.  Moscow  did  not 
confirm  the  report  but  in  the  past 
German  announcements  of  devel- 
opments on  the  eastern  front 
have  been  confirmed  24  or  48 
hours  later  in  special  orders  from 
Marshal  Stalin.] 

The  Russian  communique  also 
reported  that  Soviet  troops  had  cut 
the  Dvinsk-Riga  railway  in  Lithu- 
(Continued  on  page  8) 


German  Satellites 
Reported  Staging 
Rallies  For  Peace 


LONDON,  July  26— With  total 
mobilization  of  public  and  private 
industry  in  Germany  and  the  Nazi 
dominated  countries  of  Europe  or- 
dered by  Adolf  Hitler  last  night, 
satellites  of  the  Reich  today  were 
reported  seething  with  revolt. 

Great  peace  demonstrations  were 
held  in  Bucharest  and  Sofia  and 
the  Rumanian  and  Bulgarian  cabi- 
nets were  meeting  in  secret  session, 
according  to  the  Stockholm  news- 
paper Nya  Dagllgt  AUehanda. 

Reich  Minister  of  Propaganda 
Goebbels  was  expected  to  broad- 
cast to  the  people  of  Germany  and 
outline  his  plans  as  Trustee  for 
Total  Mobilization  for  War,  to 
which  Job  he  had  been  appointed 
by  Hitler  at  the  suggestion  of 
Reichmarshal  Hermann  Goering. 

The  mobilization  decree  directed 
the  Trustee  to  ’’see  to  it  that  all 
public  events  are  in  line  with  the 
aim  or  total  mobilization  and  do 
not  take  away  any  forces  from  the 
Wehrmacht  or  armament  indus- 
try.” 

The  trustee  was  further  ordered 
to  ’’examine  the  whole  state  of 
administration.  Including  Reich 
railways,  postal  services  and  ell 
public  establishments,  institutions 
and  undertakings,  with  the  purpose 
of  freeing  a maximum  of  man- 
power. ”To  do  this,”  the  decree 
continued,  "men  . and  materials 
must  be  used  rationally  and  to  the 
last.  Tasks  of  lesser  importance 
must  be  stopped  or  reduced  and 
organization  and  procedure  simpli- 
fied.” 

The  German  Overseas  News 
Agency  said  that  it  was  probable 
that  Goebbels  would  ”act  with  radl- 
(Continued  on  page  8) 


91  Become  U.  S.  Citizens 
At  Ceremony  Near  Front 


By  A Staff  Writer 


WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY,  July  25 
(Delayed)  — Ninety  men  and  one 
nurse  became  citizens  of  their 
adopted  land  today,  having  proved 
better  by  deeds  on  and  near  the 
field  of  battle  that  they  would 
defend  the  Constitution  than  by 
any  solemn  oath. 

The  scuffled  combat  shoes  and 
the  sprinkling  of  Purple  Hearts 
were  evidence  enough  that  these 
new  citizens  had  renounced  allegi- 
ance to  ’’any  foreign  prince,  po- 
tentate or  state  of  sovereignty”  and 
that  they  had  already  born  ’’true 
faith”  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  of  America. 

Fifty-one  of  the  soldiers  bore  the 
proud  standards  of  the  infantry, 
and  many  of  them  had  come  out 
of  the  Arno  River  front  lines  to 
hear  the  oath  of  citizenship  ad- 
ministered by  Franklin  H.  Murrell, 
U.  S.  vioe  consul  In  Naples,  who 
formerly  lived  In  Los  Angeles. 
These  doughboys  returned  immedi- 


ately after  the  ceremony  to  their 
foxholes  to  oontlnue  fighting  for 
the  ideals  for  which  U.  S.  citizen- 
ship stands. 

Lt.  Gen.  Mark.  W.  Clark  saluted 
his  troops  for  the  manner  in  which 
they  received  their  citizenship,  ”lit- 


erally  on  the  field  of  battle.’ 

’’America  now  belongs  to  you 
and  you  belong  to  America,”  Gen- 
eral Clark  told  them.  ’’During  the 
long  years  of  peace  which  lie 
ahead,  your  devotion  to  your  coun- 
try must  be  just  as  spirited  and 
aggressive  as  it  has  been  during 
your  campaign  with  the  5th  Army 
in  Italy.” 

The  citizens  came  from  19  states, 
California  leading  with  27.  Mexi- 
cans and  Canadians  predominated, 
but  there  were  many  natives  of 
China  too,  and  others  from  Ru- 
mania, England,  Ireland,  Czecho- 
slovakia. Yugoslavia,  Syria,  Ar- 
menia, Poland.  Dominican  Repub- 
(Continued  on  page  81 


Battle  Of  Privies  1 
Ended  In  Pacific 


WASHINGTON,  July  26  — The 
Battle  of  the  Privies  has  ended. 

According  to  Columnist  Drew 
Pearson,  the  Navy  has  promised 
to  refrain  from  racing  its  destroy- 
ers through  a narrow  strait  be- 
tween two  islands  where  wakes 
from  the  warships  knocked  the 
stilts  from  under  Army  privies 
perched  along  the  shorelines. 

An  official  order — signed  by  the 
Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Pa- 
cific, the  Commander  of  the  South 
Pacific,  and  the  commander  of  a 
destroyer  squadron— declared: 

’’Unless  urgency  demands,  ves- 
sels of  this  squadron  will  not  use 
speeds  in  excess  of  25  knots  in 
Blank  Strait.  It  has  been  observed 
that  the  wake  from  this  speed  gives 
Army  privies  built  out  over  thp 
water  a good  flushing  without,  dam- 
aging them. 

’’The  practice  of  painting  a hash- 
mark  under  the  picture  of  a privy 
on  the  bridge  of  the  ship — repre- 
senting each  privy  knocked  down- 
will  be  discontinued.” 


Archbishop  Spellman 
Holds  Mass  In  Field 


WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY,  July  26 
— Five  thousand  American  soldiers 
today  attended  a military  field  mass 
conducted  by  Archbishop  Francis 
J.  Spellman  of  New  York,  now 
touring  5th  Army  Installations. 

Archbishop  Spellman  said  he  hod 
conducted  mass  from  the  Aleutians 
to  India,  but  his  reception  today 
at  on  American  division  was  the 
biggest  he  had  ever  received.  In  an 
impressive  ceremony,  3,500  Yanks 
received  communion. 

Conferring  with  30  Catholic 
chaplains  of  the  area,  the  Arch- 
bishop declared  that  of  each  ten 
U.  S.  Catholic  priests  of  all  ages, 
one  is  a chaplain  in  the  Armed 
Forces. 


I > 


Page  2 >■ 


THE  STARS  AND  STRIDES 


1 - 
v - 


Thursday,  July  27,  1944 


TALKING  THINGS  OVER 


KING  GEORGE  VI  discusses  the  war  in  Italy  with  General  Sir 
Henry  Maitland  Wilson,  Commander  in  Chief  in  the  Mediterranean 
and  Admiral  Sir  John  D.  Cunningham,  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
Mediterranean  Fleet,  The  King  is  currently  on  a tour  of  the  Italian 
battlefront.  (RAF  official  photo) 

King  George  VI  Heads 
For  Excursion  To  Front 


Argentina  Reported 
Charting  Campaign 
'To  Divide  Americas 

WASHINGTON,  July  26  — The 
Argentine  government  evidently 
gave  up  Its  latest  drive  to  win 
diplomatic  recognition  of  the 
United  States  and  turned  instead 
to  charting  further  moves  designed 
to  split  American  nations  unified 
against  it,  the  Associated  Press  re- 
ported today. 

A verbal  clash  between  Washing- 
ton and  Buenos  Aires  is  in  im- 
mediate prospect,  it  was  said.  The 
Argentine  regime  is  scheduled  to 
explain  its  position  in  recalling  Dr. 
Adrian  Escobar,  its  ambassador,  to 
.Washington.  The  United  States 
and  cooperating  nations  are  due  to 
define  anew  their  attitude  to  the 
Argentine  administration  based  on 
the  contention  it  has  followed  a 
course  harmful  to  the  United  Na- 
tions in  their  struggle  with  the 
Axis. 

The  object  and  final  Judge  of 
the  contentions  of  both  sides  is 
the  Argentine  electorate,  said  the 
Associated  Press.  Washington’s 
view  is  that  it  is  up  to  the  people 
themselves  to  decide  whether  they 
want  to  continue  to  be  ruled  by  a 
government  ostracized  by  its  neigh- 
bors. 

The  United  Nations  and  most 
other  American  republics  have  not 
recognized  the  Edeimiro  Parrel] 
regime  since  it  came  into  power 
early  this  year.  Once  Bolivia,  Para- 
guay, Chile  and  Equador  extended 
some  degree  of  recognition  but  re- 
cently when  the  U.  S.  withdrew 
Ambassador  Norman  Armour,  the 
four  countries  also  ordered  their 
ambassadors  home,  thus  restoring 
a united  front  of  the  United  Na- 
tions against  the  Farrell  regime. 

Argentina  persisted  in  the  hope 
of  a reversal  of  American  policy 
until  yesterday  when  Secretary 
Cordell  Hull  said  the  American 
governments  had  agreed  upon  a 
statement  of  non-recognition. 


Russians  Approve 
New  Polish  Group 

LONDON,  July  26  — The  Soviet 
government  gave  its  stamp  of  ap- 
proval today  to  the  new  Polish 
Committee  of  National  Liberation 
formed  in  Moscow  and  announced 
that  it  was  willing  to  work  out  an 
agreement  with  the  committee  rela- 
11  ve  to  future  relations  between 
Poland  and  the  Soviet  Union. 

In  London,  however,  the  Polish 
Govemment-in-Exile  branded  the 
creation  of  the  Moscow  committee 
as  "a  move  by  a handful  of  usurp- 
ers to  impose  upon  the  Polish  na- 
tion a political  leadership  which 
Is  at  variance  with  the  people.” 

The  Russian  declaration  to  the 
Moscow  Polish  Committee  said  that 
present  military  operations  in  Po- 
land had  but  one  aim:  To  wipe  out 
the  German  army  and  help  the 
Polish  people  restore  an  independ- 
ent and  democratic  Poland. 

The  announcement  added  that 
Russia  has  no  intention  of  setting 
up  a Soviet  administrative  body  in 
Poland  and  no  desire  to  acquire 
any  Polish  territory,  nor  to  alter 
the  social  structure  of  that  country. 


Academy  Appointments 
Offered  5fh  Army  Men 


WASHINGTON,  July  26  — Con- 
gressman Henry  M.  Jackson,  of 
Washington,  who  did  a brief 
stretch  in  the  Army  before  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  ordered  him  back 
to  the  House,  has  not  forgotten  the 
Gls. 

Drew  Pearson,  writing  in  his 
Washington  Merry-Go-Round  col- 
umn, revealed  that  "Jackson,  like 
all  members  of  the  House  and  Sen- 
ate, is  constantly  plauged  with  re- 
quests for  West  Point  appointments. 
This  year,  however,  he  has  a new 
wrinkle  in  appointments  to  the 
military  academy.  He  has  written 
to  Lt  Gen.  Mark  W.  Clark,  Com- 
manding General  of  the  5th  Army, 
offering  appointment  to  any  en- 
listed man  of  the  5th  Army  whom 
General  Clark  selects — but  he  must 
be  an  enlisted  man. 

"Rep.  Jackson  asked  General 
Clark  to  select  that  man  who  best 
exemplifies  in  character  and  per- 
formance the  American  doughboy  of 
World  War  II.  Vice  President 
Henry  Wallace  also  selects  some  of 
his  West  Point  appointments  from 
ilfce  ranks  of  enlisted  men.” 


ADVANCED  ALLIED  HEAD- 
QUARTERS, July  26— King  George 
VI,  after  an  inspection  of  Allied 
war  shipping  in  Naples  Harbor, 
had  left  by  plane  today  for  a visit 
to  the  fighting  fronts  of  Italy. 

Although  for  security  reasons  the 
itinerary  and  time-table  of  the 
King’s  trip  are  carefully  guarded, 
certain  details  of  his  actions  in 
the  past  few  days  can  now  be  re- 
vealed. 

After  viewing  the  harbor  at 
Naples  Monday  In  company  with 
top  ranking  naval  officials,  he 
boarded  the  personal  plane  of 
General  Sir  Henry  Maitland  Wil- 
son — a converted  C-47  named 
"Freedom”— and  flew  over  the 
Amin  beachhead  en  route  to  an 
airdrome  near  Rome. 

Monday  night  King  George 
roughed  it,  sleeping  in  General  Sir 
Harold  Alexander’s  trailer  beside  a 
beautiful  lake  before  heading  for 
the  front. 

Increasing  crowds  throughout 
Monday  showed  his  presence  in 
Italy  was  no  longer  a public  secret. 
In  fact  some  Italian  admirers  even 
posted  signs  on  the  walls  of  the 
Naples  Navy  House  saying  ’Tong 
live  the  democratic  King  who  has 
ejected  the  fascists.” 

Before  leaving  on  his  trip  to  the 
front  King  George  made  a hurried 

Allied  Craft  Sink 
22  Enemy  Vessels 

ADVANCED  ALLIED  HEAD- 
QUARTERS, July  26— Light  Allied 
coastal  craft,  including  LCGs 
(Landing  Craft  Guns)  sank  22  en- 
emy vessels  off  the  northwest  Ital- 
ian coast  during  the  months  of 
May  and  June,  it  was  announced 
today. 

A Navy  release,  stating  officially 
for  the  first  time  that  LCGs  were 
operating  in  this  theater,  reported 
the  enemy  craft  sunk  included  two 
destroyers,  a merchant  vessel  and 
a seagoing  tug.  The  rest  were  land- 
ing craft  and  patrol  boats. 

The  LCGs,  which  were  described 
as  resembling  heavily  armed  LCTs 
(Landing  Craft,  Tanks)  also  played 
a major  part  in  the  sinking  of  15 
German  landing  craft  and  a tug  in 
two  operations  in  March  and  April. 
Credit  for  their  success  was  at- 
tributed to  the  great  amount  of 
surprise  fire  powder  they  threw 
against  the  Germans,  who  probably 
believed  them  to  be  less-heavily 
armed  LCTs. 


Leading  Canadian  Ace 
Returns  To  Civil  Life 

OTTAWA,  July  26 — The  request 
of  Canada’s  leading  fighter  ace, 
former  War  Flight  Lt.  George  Buzz 
Beurling.  to  resign  his  commission 
and  return  to  civil  life  has  been 
granted  by  the  RCAF,  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  learned  today.  Beurl- 
ing, a much-decorated  flyer  and 
’’hero  of  Malta’’  with  32  Nazi 
planes  to  his  credit,  said  he  wished 
to  return  to  private  employment. 


change  from  the  dress  uniform  oi 
an  admiral  to  a field  marshall’s 
outfit.  Correspondents  said  the 
rugged  travel  schedule  he  was  fol- 
lowing would  have  been  the  envy 
of  even  Mrs.  Roosevelt. 

King  George  visited  this  theater 
once  before  when  he  toured  North 
Africa  and  Malta  last  June.  He  was 
in  France  for  a first  hand  view  of 
the  front  in  1939  and  again  last 
month  when  he  visited  General 
Bernard  Law  Montgomery’s  Nor- 
mandy headquarters. 


Heavies  Out  Over 
Austria,  Albania 


MAAF  HEADQUARTERS,  July 
26— Heavy  bombers  of  the  15th  AAF 
today  bombed  military  installations 
near  Vienna  and  an  oil  refinery  at 
Berat-Kucove,  in  Albania. 

Bad  weather  obscured  the  tar- 
gets at  Vienna.  Bomber  crew  mem- 
bers and  the  escorting  lighter 
pilots  reported  several  victories  In 
encounters  with  enemy  planes. 

Oil  smoke  was  seen  after  tnc 
bombing  at  Berat-Kucove,  last  at- 
tacked by  the  heavies  last  Sunday. 

1st  Lt.  James  S.  Varnell,  Jr.,  a 
Mustang  pilot,  of  Charleston, 
Tenn.,  shot  down  his  16th  plane 
today  to  clinch  runner-up  position 
for  air  victories  in  this  theater. 
Leading  the  field  is  Major  Herschel 
H.  Green,  Mayfield,  Ky.,  with  17. 

Reconnaissance  photos  today 
showed  that  heavy  bombers  yes- 
terday "virtually  destroyed"  the 
Hermann  Goering  tank  works  at 
Linz,  Austria.  The  entire  target 
area  was  reported  cratered  by 
bombs,  several  of  which  exploded 
inside  the  rolling  mill.  The  main 
foundry  was  hit  several  times. 


NEW  YORK.  July  26— MaJ.  Gen. 
F.  L.  Walker,  former  Commander 
of  tlie  36th  Infantry  Division,  told 
the  press  yesterday  that  "I’ve  ob- 
served our  soldiers  in  battle  on 
the  Italian  front  over  a period  of 
ten  months  and  I’m  convinced  our 
soldiers  are  better  than  the  Ger- 
mans." 

General  Walker  declared  "our 
soldiers  are  more  cheerful,  more 
confident,  and  are  better  marks- 
men. After  having  seen  our  men 
going  through  the  hardships  of  last 
winter  during  which  they  were 
subjected  to  almost  continual 
rains,  mud,  cold  rations  and  con- 
tinual artillery  and  mortar  fire, 
maintaining  a cheerfulness  far 
superior  to  the  enemy,  I feel  con- 
fident they  are  capable  of  being 
made  into  the  best  soldiers  in  the 
world.” 

General  Walker  was  en  route  to 
Fort  Benning,  Ga.,  where  he  will 
be  commandant  of  the  Infantry 
School. 

"The  36th  Infantry  Division  is  a 
great  outfit,  and  I hated  to  leave," 


Tropic  Chocolate  Bar 
Won’t  Melt  In  Pocket 


JERSEY  CITY,  July  26  — Alter 
the  war  look  for  chocolate  bars 
that  won’t  turn  to  goo  in  the 
pocket  of  your  summer  suit  or 
run  down  your  chin. 

The  Army  says  its  tropical  cho- 
colate bars  which  melt  at  120  de- 
grees instead  of  the  usual  85  will 
undoubtedly  be  on  the  civilian 
market  in  peacetime  through  the 
southern  states  and  in  summer  up 
north. 

The  bars  are  made  of  chdbo- 
late,  skim  milk,  cocoa,  oat  flour 
with  flavoring  and  vitamins.  The 
mixture  can  not  be  poured  but 
must  be  compressed  in  molds. 

The  taste  and  texture  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  now  popular 
bars,  says  Army  Services  Forces. 

'Don't  Relax  Now,’ 
Stimson  Tells  U.  S. 

WASHINGTON,  July  26— Secre- 
tary of  War  Henry  L.  Stimson  said 
today  that  Germany  was  shaken 
.and  ' shot  through  with  doubts"  by 
the  three-sided  Allied  attacks  in 
Europe  but  there  is  no  collapse  in 
sight  and  no  excuse  for  relaxing  on 
the  home  front. 

Mr  Stimson  in  a radio  address 
said  there  is  much  talk  of  a quick 
victory  through  German  collapse 
but  "such  collapse  is  not  yet  ap- 
parent to  our  men  locked  in  com- 
bat with  a brutal,  resourceful  and 
stubborn  enemy. 

”Our  enemies,  Germany  and 
Japan,  have  set  a standard  of  ex- 
istence in  which  military  power  is 
the  one  thing  their  twisted  minds 
can  recognize  and  measure.  As 
long  as  they  have  any  reason  to  be- 
lieve they  can  maintain  a degree 
ot  equality  in  that  regard  they  will 
fight  hard  and  tenaciously  but  when 
they  see  they  are  about  to  be  com- 
pletely overpowered,  when  that 
fact  is  physically  and  unmistakably 
carried  to  their  doorsteps,  then  and 
only  then  will  they  collapse.” 

Mr.  Stimson,  who  returned 
from  a tour  of  Italy  and  Normandy, 
said  troops  in  the  field  were  the 
most  efficient,  aggressive  and  most 
potentially  powerful  force  on  the 
ground,  on  the  sea  and  in  the  air 
that  history  has  seen. 

"Few  of  us  would  recognize  in 
these  skilled,  relentless  fighters  as 
the  product  of  our  homes,"  Mr. 
Stimson  added. 


Training  Plan  Begun 
For  Governing  Japan 

WASHINGTON,  July  26  — Army 
and  Navy  officers  have  started 
a training  program  designed  to 
prepare  them  for  military  govern- 
ment duties  in  territories  taken 
from  the  Japanese,  the  War  De- 
partment announced  today. 

The  initial  group  has  com- 
pleted a six-week  indoctrination 
course  in  the  School  of  Military 
Government  at  the  University  of 
Virginia,  and  will  begin  a six- 
month  course  next  Monday  at  Yale, 
Chicago  and  Michigan. 


General  Walker  declared.  "The 
public  knows  the  deeds  of  some  of 
its  more  publicized  heroes,  such  as 
Sgts.  Charles  (Commando)  Kelly 
and  James  Logan,  and  Pvt.  Wil- 
liam J.  Crawford,  who  won  the 
Medal  of  Honor,  and  Sgt.  Manuel 
Gonzales,  who  won  the  Distingu- 
ished Service  Cross.  But  the  Di- 
vision has  hundreds  of  other 
heroes,  real  infantrymen  who  have 
proved  they  are  the  kind  of  men 
you  like  to  soldier  with." 

The  general  learned  that  Texas 
Highway  36  has  been  renamed  the 
”3  6 th  Division  Highway,"  and 
people  of  Texas  are  planning  to 
erect  a monument  to  the  Division 
on  that  highway  near  Temple, 
Texas. 

"The  36th  has  suffered  heavy 
casualties  several  times,"  he  con- 
tinued, "but  our  men  have  had 
what  it  took  to  come  back  and  give 
back  to  the  Germans  in  kind.  Al- 
though we  have  seen  less  days  in 
action  than  some  of  the  other  di- 
visions, we  have  seen  the  toughest 
kind  of  action  of  all— storming 
well-fortified  beaches  and  rivers." 


American  Better  Soldier 
Than  Enemy,  Says  Walker 


Jap  War  Tactics 
Due  For  Change, 
Says  Admiral  King 


WASHINGTON,  July  26  — Ad- 
miral Ernest  J.  King,  Navy  Com- 
mander in  Chief,  said  today  that 
the  new  Japanese  cabinet  will 
change  the  enemy’s  war  tactics  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  change 
will  bring  "cooperation"  by  the 
Nipponese  fleet  in  a showdown  na- 
val engagement. 

"Undoubtedly  the  Japanese  will 
continue  to  wage  the  war  with 
all  the  power  they  possess  but  we 
can  expect  some  change  in  their 
method,"  he  saidr  "Whether  it 
means  they  will  go  more  on  the 
defensive  and  withdraw  to  inner 
citadels  or  rather  become  more  ag- 
gressive remains  to  be  seen.** 

Navy  Secretary  James  V.  Foi- 
restal  and  Admiral  Wiliam  F.  Hal- 
sey Jr.,  the  latter  back  from  the 
Pacific  for  short  conferences  in 
Washington,  sat  beside  Admiral 
King  as  he  asserted  that  the  Tojo 
cabinet  obviously  fell  because  of 
the  dissatisfaction  by  Japanese 
military  leaders  with  the  conduct 
of  the  war. 

"There  is  no  aid  and  comfort  to 
be  gained  in  the  composition  of 
the  new  cabinet,"  Admiral  King 
said,  explaining  that  it  was  made 
up  of  military  leaders. 

Secretary  Forrestal  reported  that 
American  casualties  in  Saipan  were 
3,049  killed,  13,049  wounded  and 
365  missing.  More  than  5,000  of  the 
wounded  arc  already  back  in  ac- 
tion on  Tinian  Island,  he  said, 
where  the  same  troops  that  con- 
quered Saipan  are  fighting. 

The  Japanese  casualties  on  SaT- 
pan  totaled  20,729  dead,  buried  by 
American  troops,  and  1,717  prison- 
ers of  war.  Also  14,192  enemy  ci- 
vilians were  interned  on  Saipan. 

Secretary  Forrestal  said  casual- 
ties on  Guam  were  "moderate  and 
those  of  the  enemy  heavy." 

The  Navy  Secretary  commented 
that  the  three  islands  of  Saipan, 
Guam  and  Tinian  were  the  ’'key 
with  which  to  unlock  the  door  to 
Japan,  the  Philippines  and  the 
coast  of  China."  These  islands 
cover  300  square  miles  and  con- 
tain eight  airfields  and  five  har- 
bors wdthin  striking  distance  of 
Japan. 


Demo  Did  His  Best 
To  'Protect'  Dewey 


WASHINGTON,  July  26  — A 
Democrat  <iid  his  best  — which 
wasn’t  enough— to  "protect"  the 
name  of  Republican  Presidential 
Candidate  Thomas  E.  Dewey  at  the 
mass  sedition,  trial  yesterday. 

Democrat  Defense  Attorney 
Claude  A.  Thompson  rose  in  ora- 
torical wrath  when  Assistant 
Prosecutor  Joseph  Burns  began  to 
read  to  the  Jury  a treatise  entitled 
"Dewey:  Presidential  Impossibil- 

ity." 

"I’m  a southern  Democrat,"  At- 
torney Thompson  shouted,  "but  I’ll 
protect  my  Republican  brothers 
against  this  attempt  to  smear  the 
name  of  the  illustrious  Governor 
of  New  York."  "Dewey:  Presiden- 
tial Impossibility”  went  on  the 
records  anyway. 

The  pamphlet,  written  by  Robert 
E.  Edmondson,  one  of  the  26  de- 
fendants. was  read  by  Assistant 
Prosecutor  Burns,  who  explained 
that  he  wanted  to  show  that  the 
defendants  were  ’’against  the  po- 
litical system  of  the  United  States 
—against  Republicans  and  Demo- 
crats." 

Memorial  Service  Held 
For  General  Roosevelt 

OYSTER  BAY,  N.  Y.,  July  26- 
Twenty  - five  soldiers  who  had 
fought  under  him  served  as  honor 
guard  at  the  memorial  service  held 
yesterday  for  the  late  Brig.  Gen. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  who  died 
of  a heart  attack  in  Normandy  on 
July  12. 

A gathering  of  more  than  700 
people  completely  filled  the  small 
Christ  Episcopal  Church  in  the  for- 
mer home  town  of  Gen.  Roosevelt, 
and  a number  seated  on  the  lawn 
heard  the  sendee  through  loud- 
speakers set  up  on  the  grounds. 

Rev.  John  N.  Warren,  Rector  of 
the  Parish,  held  a simple  Episcopal 
sendee  for  the  son  of  ”T.  R.”  who 
had  seen  action  In  North  Africa 
and  Italy  before  joining  the  4th 
Infantry  Division  in  England. 


Thursday,  July  27.  1944 


THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 


Page  3 


New  War  Weapons 
Emerge  From  Nazi, 
Yank  Scrap  Pile 

FREDERICK*  Md.  — Remember 
the  tanks  that  burned  at  Kasserine 
and  those  jeeps  sprawled  in 
crumpled  heaps  at  Randazzo,  after 
hitting  German  land  mines? 

They’re  back  home  now,  what’s 
left  of  them,  along  with  all  the 
shell  casings  from  the  Cassino  bar- 
rage and  the  wreckage  of  airplanes. 
Enemy  materiel,  too.  It’s  all  part 
of  a huge  junk  pile,  whffch  in  time 
will  be  melted  down  and  used  to 
turn  out  new  weapons  of  war. 

This  salvage  operation  has  been 
expanded  rapidly  by  the  army  un- 
til now  it’s  a multi-million-dollar 
business.  The  ’’overseas  salvage 
segregation  center”  here,  one  of 
seven  in  the  country,  sells  180,000 
dollars  worth  of  salvage  parts  and 
reclaimable  junk  each  month. 

But  there’s  one  dangerous  twist 
in  salvaging  war  wreckage,  ex- 
plained Lt.  Vincent  C.  Hopkins,  an 
ordnance  officer.  Some  of  the 
wreckage  is  stiU  loaded.  One  good- 
sized  live  explosive  dropped  into 
a steel  mill’s  blast  furnace  could 
cause  millions  of  dollars  worth  of 
damage,  he  pointed  out. 

One  time  two  live  torpedoes  were 
discovered  in  the  great  pile  of 
wreckage  which  once  had  been 
guns,  tanks,  trucks,  jeeps  and  air- 
planes. 

So  before  each  giant  claw  of 
junk  is  hoisted  into  a waiting  rail- 
road car.  its  load  is  carefully  in- 
spected by  an  army  ordnance  man. 
Almost  every  day  he  comes  up  with 
some  ”hot  stuff.’* 

The  explosives  are  carted  away 
to  isolation.  Small  ammunition  no 
longer  usable  burns  with  a dull 
"ping-ping”  inside  a thick  concrete 
furnace. 

The  scrap  is  used  as  ballast  for 
ships  returning  from  the  war  zones 
and  then  shipped  to  the  segregation 
centers.  The  Frederick  center 
sprawls  over  23  acres  of  ground. 
Headquarters  is  a converted  roller 
rink.  Hundreds  of  tons  of  the  war 
wreckage  lie  in  long  piles  between 
six  railroad  yards  cutting  across 
the  yard. 

Four  derricks  and  one  small 
shifter  railroad  engine  do  the 
heavy  work  and  a complement  of 
some  70  civilians,  12  men  and  three 
officers  do  the  rest. 

Proposes  Federal 
Health  Clinics 

WASHINGTON  — Vice  Admiral 
Ross  T.  Mclntire,  chief  naval  sur- 
geon, has  proposed  that  the  gov- 
ernment provide  health  clinics  to 
help  build  a physically  fit  postwar 
American  youth. 

Admiral  Mclntire,  who  is  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt’s  personal  physician, 
also  advocated  overall  medical  and 
hospital  insurance  in  a paper  sub- 
mitted to  a Senate  subcommittee 
investigating  health  and  education. 

The  hearing  opened  with  the 
reading  of  a prepared  statement 
from  Maj.  Gen.  Lewis  B.  Hershey, 
Selective  Service  director,  who 
suggested  that  the  presently  re- 
corded physical  or  mental  inca- 
pacity of  5,000,000  men  between  18 
and  37  for  military  service  was  due 
in  part  to  lack  of  a proper  educa- 
tional system. 

He  suggested  the  system  be  ad- 
justed so  that  teachers,  parents  and 
officials  realize  that  a normal  child 
’’should  reach  a standard  phys- 
ically just  as  much  as  he  should  be 
able,  at  a certain  age,  to  add  or 
subtract  or  read.” 

1 

Landing  Crafts  Ready 
For  Any  Shore  Task 


WASHINGTON  — Landing  craft 
required  for  any  shore  to  shore  or 
ship  to  shore  invasion  in  any  part 
of  the  world  are  now  ready  for  U.  S. 
armed  forces,  the  Navy  Department 
disclosed  this  week. 

Constructed  in  15  major  types, 
after  models  proved  in  previous 
combat  experience,  the  invasion 
craft  are  hitting  the  water  at  the 
rate  of  almost  200,000  tons  monthly, 
or  more  than  three  and  a half 
times  last  year’s  output. 

The  present  program  to  put  more 
fighting  men  ashore  more  rapidly 
on  epemy  lands  all  over  the  world 
contains  a Congressional  allotment 
of  100,000  invasion  vessels  with  a 
gross  weight  of  some  million  and  a 
half  tons. 


SALLY,  MEET  GINNY’ 


NAZI  SOLDIERS  IN  ITALY  arc  hearing  from  the  Allied  counter- 
part of  "Sally”  these  days.  She’s  Virginia  Robinson,  Virginia-born 
Broadway  actress  who  came  overseas  as  a USO  entertainer.  In  her 
excellent  German  she  gives  out  with  the  sweet  talk  to  homesick 
Krauts,  sandwiching  her  speeches  between  nostalgic  musical  num- 
bers on  a program  broadcast  over  a U.  S.  Army  radio  station.  Fel- 
lows, meet  ”Toni  from  America.”  (Acme) 

Kid  'Bon-Bon  Racketeers' 
Put  The  Touch  On  GIs 


Postwar  Industry 
Outlook  Confused 


NEW  YORK,  July  26 — The  pic-’ admits  Europe  won’t  have 
ture  of  postwar  employment  is 
neither  black  nor  white  but  a sort 


the 


LONDON  — GIs  in  Normandy 
some  of  whom  bad  never  been  to 
North  Africa  or  Italy  first,  are  be- 
ing subjected  to  a merciless  beat- 
ing by  the  ’ Bon-bon  Racketeers,” 
reports  Hal  Boyle  of  the  AP. 

The  racketeers  are  the  kids  of 
liberated  Franco  who  have  been 


gag,  they  are  so  grateful  they  give 
with  the  bon-bons. 

MP  Sgt  Francis  R.  Kress,  Buf- 
falo, N.  Y.,  told  Boyle  sadly,  M1 
don’t  know  what  these  kid’ll  try 
next.  Maybe  they’ll  startv  building 
roadblocks.” 


of  neutral  gray,  the  Committee  for 
Economic  Development  reports. 

The  committee,  including  such 
men  as  Charles  E.  Kettering  of 
General  Motors:  Philip  Johnson  of 
Boeing  Aircraft  and  Eric  Johnston, 
president  of  the  U.  S.  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  has  voluntarily  sur- 
veyed the  prospects.  It’s  flattest 
statement  is  that  postwar  industry 
is  a tremendous  maze  ol  cross- 
currents in  which  the  fight  for 
markets,  the  advances  in  technology 
during  the  war,  the  gap  in  civilian 
production  during  the  war  and  the 
dislocation  of  labor  make  any  con- 
clusive predictions  about  the  world 
to  come  impossible. 

Several  of  the  committee’s  con- 
clusions point  to  the  prospect  of 
large  pools  of  unemployed  In  some 
cities;  in  others,  small  yool s;  and  In 
some,  a labor  shortage. 

Vegetable  and  fruit  growers  in 
Bradenton,  Fla.,  said  they  would 
need  1,831  more  workers  after  the 
war  than  in  1940.  When  the  CED 
a^ked  every  family  in  the  country 
what  they  planned  to  buy  on  or 
after  Victory  Day,  here  were  the 
answers:  Out  of  628  families,  314 
expected  to  build  homes  at  a cost 
of  a little  over  a million  dollars; 
623  wanted  new  cars;  583  wanted 
radios  and  537  wanted  kitchen 
stoves. 

In  Philadelphia,  the  committee 
found  that  100.000  extra  workers 
will  tour  the  city  when  peace  ends 
the  great  shipbuilding  program. 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  which  employed 
2,400  in  its  prewar  shipyards,  will 
have  no  jobs  for  21,600  of  its  pres- 
ent 24.000  shipworkers  when  peace 
comes. 

Against  these  pessimistic  signs. 
Janesville,  Wis.,  says  it  will  need 
332  more  worker  after  the  war,  and 
Streator,  111.,  intends  to  spend  more 
than  a million  dollars  on  new  fac- 
tories and  facilities.  Baldwin  Loco- 
motive says  Europe  will  need  20,000 
new  locomotives  after  the  war,  but 


money  to  buy  them.  Westinghouso 
counts  on  a 484  percent  increase  in, 
the  use  of  electric  washers  in  the 
first  postwar  year  and  1,100  percent 
in  five  years  — which  should  not 
gladden  the  laundryman’s  heart. 

Spam’s  creator  expects  to  lose 
1,855  workers  when  the  ’’demand” 
for  "Spam”  goes  down,  but  Mr. 
Hormel  Is  thinking  up  ways  of 
keeping  them  on. 

Assembling  all  these  straws  in 
the  wind,  the  committee  still  failed 
to  make  any  hay  out  of  its  survey 
—and  the  postwar  employment 
problem  remains  a problem. 


Gas  Output  Rises  I 
lekes  Announces 


WASHINGTON  — United  States 
aviation  gasoline  production  has 
increased  930  percent  since  1941, 
Harold  L.  Tckes,  United  States 
Petroleum  Administrator,  reported 
this  week.  At  the  same  time  Mr. 
Ickes  pointed  out  that  the  enemy 
is  suffering  an  increasing  curtail- 
ment of  oil  resources  because  of 
Allied  bombings. 

Mr.  Ickes  reported  that  the 
United  States  production  of  avia- 
tion gasoline  promises  to  reach  a 
total  of  196,000,000  barrels  in  1944 
as  against  19,000,000  bairels  in 
1941,  48,000,000  in  19  42  and 

101,000,000  in  1943. 

The  increase  in  the  production  of 
gasoline  for  the  use  of  bomber  and 
fighter  planes  is  being  mate  lied 
in  the  crude  oil  and  petroleum 
field.  The  daily  average  of  3,654,000 
barrels  of  crude  oil  produced  in 
1942  has  been  increased  to  a daily 
average  of  4,600,000  during  the  first 
half  of  1944. 

These  figures,  it  was  pointed  out, 
are  the  answer  of  the  United 
States  to  a German  statement  that 
the  American  oil  supply  is  dimin- 
ishing. 


starving  for  candy  and  gum  for 
four  years.  Quickly  observing  that 
every  American  soldier  is  a walk- 
ing arsenal  of  sweetmeats,  the 
youngsters  have  rigged  up  a sys- 
tem which  Boyle  says  has  the  GI 
at  their  mercy. 

The  streets  in  freed  Frencn 
towns  have  been  zoned  off  by  the 
kids  with  the  finesse  of  a Dutch 
Schultz — only  it’s  bon-bons,  not 
beer,  that  nobody  better  try  to 
muscle  in  on. 

The  kids  work  in  shifts,  two  on 
and  four  off.  One  leans  out  the 
window,  another  stands  at  the  euro 
and  both  hail  passing  convoys  with 
fingers  uplifted  with  the  ”V’  sign — 
old  stuff  to  Tunisian  and  Salerno 
veterans.  The  midget  moll,  shaking 
her  curls  and  making  like  Shirley 
Temple,  usually  has  the  best  take. 

Best  of  them  is  one  with  a fat 
little  red  face  and  brown  bobbed 
hair  who  toddles  out  on  the  side- 
walk each  morning  in  a pretty 
white  dress,  carrying  a little  box 
! under  her  arm.  As  the  trucks  pass 
by,  she  smiles  like  an  angel  and 
looks  much  too  sweet  to  get  up  the 
nerve  to  ask  the  boys  for  anything 
— and  so,  of  course,  she’s  showered 
with  gum  and  candy. 

When  the  last  Life-Saver  hits 
the  sidewalk  and  the  trucks  arc  out 
of  sight,  she  drops  the  front  and 
scrambles,  box  in  hand,  for  the 
catch,  the  winsome  smile  a deep 
frown  of  concentration  for  the  job 
at  hand. 

Most  ingenious  of  the  ’’gangsters” 
are  those  who  jump  out  on  the 
road  in  front  of  a convoy  and  be- 
gin shouting,  "Boche!  Boche!”  The 
convoy  skids  to  a stop.  When  the 
GIs  find  out  the  whole  thing  is  a 


Aerial  Torpedo  Kills 
PWB's  G.  B.  Guenther 


LONDON— CoL  G.  B.  Guenther, 
48,  chief  of  the  Public  Relations 
Section  of  the  Army’s  Psychologi- 
cal Warfare  Branch  in  the  Euro- 
pean Theater,  was  killed  by  an 
aerial  torpedo  June  13  while  on 
duty,  it  was  announced  this  week. 

A veteran  of  the  Regular  Army, 
he  had  served  as  military  attache 
in  Latvia  and  Estonia,  and  had 
been  sent  to  France  in  1927  to 
study  French  cavalry  methods.  Af- 
ter attending  West  Point  for  one 
term,  he  joined  the  Army  in  1917 
and  was  sent  immediately  to  Of- 
ficer’s School,  becoming  a second 
lieutenant.  He  was  appointed  a 
colonel  in  December  1941. 


HOME  BRIEFS 


United  States  Rubber 
Shortage  Finally  Licked 

NEW  YORK— Harvey  S.  Firestone,  Jr.,  president  of  the  Fire- 
stone Tire  and  Rubber  Company,  announced  here  Wednesday 
that  the  rubber  shortage  has  been  "licked,”  but  the  tire  situation 
will  continue  critical  for  some  time  because  of  the  manpower 
shortage. 

Firestone  said  the  tire  industry  is  now  completing  a 
100,000,000-dollar  plant  expan- 


sion program  to  meet  the  short- 
age of  machinery. 

"However,  the  most  serious 
problem  yet  to  be  solved  is  that 
of  manpower,"  he  said.  "A  few 
expert  tirebuilders  are  being 
released  by  the  armed  forces, 
but  many  more  men  are  needed 
on  the  production  line.” 


time  waiting  for  a good-looking 
man  to  come  along  and  marry  you. 
The  lady  farmer  "doesn’t  have  to 
punch  a time  clocx  iike  her  sister 
in  a factory,  but  she  may  have 
to  sit  up  all  night  with  a cow  which 
is  having  a calf. 

o 

Hey,  Taxi ! 

NEW  YORK — To  summon  a 


LEATRICE  WEDS 


movie  days  and  the  late  screen 
idol  John  Gilbert,  has  married 
Pvt.  George  Arthur  Hoover.  Thm 
wedding  took  place  in  Wcsticood; 
Calif. 


Rudy  In  Reserve 

LOS  ANGELES— Rudy  Vallee. 
radio  and  motion  picture  band- 
leader and  singer ; has  been 
placed  on  the  inactive  list  by  the 
Coast  Guard  as  a lieutenant  in 
the  reserve.  Clark  Gable , recently 
placed  on  the  imxctiue  list  by 
the  Air  Force  after  two  years  of 
service,  will  resume  acting  in  the 
fall,  Metro  Goldtvyn  Mayer  an- 
nounced. 

o 

Farmerette 

WASHINGTON  — Miss  Florence 
Hall,  director  of  the  Women’s  Land 
Army,  reports  that  women  make 


Just  as  good  farmers  as  men,  add- 
ing a word  of  warning  for  city 
girls:  ’’Farming  is  not  the  kind 
of  job  you  can  go  into  while  killing 


taxicab  in  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
you  walk  to  a little  box  at  a street 
intersection,  pull  a lever  and 
pretty  soon  along  comes  a cab. 
Ronald  Good,  17-year-old  Scottish 
seaman,  wanted  a taxicab  after 
a night  out,  saw  a little  box  at 
Broadway  and  38th  Street,  pulled 
the  lever  and  got  the  strangest 
taxioab  he’d  ever  seen — a big, 
red,  open-air  job  with  a bell,  a 
bunch  of  passengers  wearing  hel- 
mets and  a cabbie  who  was  less 
than  polite.  In  night  court  Magis- 
t r a t © Ro  then  berg  suspended 

sentence  on  Good,  commenting 
that  for  the  first  time  in  his 
career  on  the  bench,  he’d  come 
across  a false-alarm  alibi  he  be- 
lieved. 

O 

Buzzer 

BOWMAN  FIELD,  Ky.  — Lt. 
Roger  M.  Lewellan,  28,  of  the  Army 
Air  Forces,  was  fined  2,000  dollars 
and  denied  promotion  rights  for 
a year  by  a general  court  martial 
because  he  buzzed  his  home  town 
of  Corning,  Iowa,  during  a prac- 
tice flight. 

o 

Gilbert  Kin  Weds 

HOLLYWOOD,  Calif—  LeatHce 
Joy  Gilbert,  daughter  of  former 
actress  Leatrice  Joy  of  the  silent 


o j 

Film  Star  Back 

NEW  YORK — Robert  Montgom- 
ery, former  movie  star,  now  a Navy 
lieutenant  commander  ^ho  served 
on  a destroyer  in  the  invasion  of 
Normandy,  arrived  here  yesterday 
en  route  to  Los  Angers  to  spend 
two  weeks  with  his  family.  He  said 
the  invasion  was  "one  hell  of  a 
show.” 

u ijtl 

Fair’s  End  1 

NEW  YOKK— The  New  Yort 
World  Fair  of  1940,  Inc.,  lasting- 
a principal  debt  to  stockholders 
of  19,069.764  dollars  and  unpaid 
interest  of  439,000  dollars,  yester- 
day filed  petition  for  final  disolu- 
tion with  Queens  Supreme  Court,  ’ 
o | 

Refugees  Land 

PHILADELPHIA  — The  Portu- 
guese  ship  Nyassa  docked  here  thia 
week  with  100  passengers  on  board* 
75  of  them  Jewish  refugees  from 
Palestine,  Egypt,  Iran  and  Spain. 
Passage  for  the  refugees,  many  of 
whom  had  been  in  Nazi  concentra- 
tion camps,  was  made  possible  by 
the  Hebrew  Sheltering  Immigrant 
Aid  Society,  unofficial  organization 
with  headquarters  in  New  Yoflfc 
City. 


f»te  • 


THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES  - 


Thursday,  July  27,  1944 


THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES  (MEDITERRANEAN) 

Daily  mmwewei  «t  the  U.  *.  Armed  Force*  published  Mondays  through 
Saturday*  troops  In  Italy. 

poMSeatftooa  OOlcer,  Capt  Robert  J.  Christenson;  Editor.  Capt. 
Robert  KareflOe. 

Office:  W Tta  del  Tritone,  ts  the  n Mcssaggero  building.  Rome.  Tale- 
pbocsea:  Capt  Christenson,  4043;  Editorial,  43041.  Circulation.  470040. 

Acknowledgment  la  made  of  the  editorial  services  supplied  by  the  United 
Nations  New*  Berrien  and  the  Army  News  Service. 

At  Stan  and  SCrtpea  Is  printed  at  the  plant  of  H Mes*aggcro.  to  T 
dal  Trttooe,  Rome.  


YoL  L No.  « 


Thursday.  July  27.  1944 


Managing  Editor 


Sgt.  Dave  Golding 
Sgt.  William  Hogan 

UL  James  A.  Borchard.  Sgta.  John  M.  WiUJg.  Bill  Mauldin,  Al 
Kohn.  Don  wnttams,  Stanley  Meltzott  Grayson  B.  Tewksbury.  Len  Smith, 
Ray  Ueynold.%  Robert  B.  McIntyre.  Joe  Bailey,  Allen  Palmer;  Cpls.  Wade 
jonoTBob  Fleiaber;  Pvt*.  Edmund  F.  Hogan.  George  Dorsey.  Bob  Meyer, 
John  Lararter,  John  Walsh,  IXL 


...MAIL  CALL... 


Cinema  Kites 

Dear  Editor: 

A staff  officer  of  a certain  field 
artillery  group  supporting  the  FEC 
on  a visit  to  Fifth  Army  rear  ache- 
loo,  was  determined  to  line  vp  a 
movie  ter  his  artillerymen. 

There  was  a time  element  and 
the  ok  of  his  CO  which  he  couldn't 
get  until  be  returned  to  his  outfit. 


were  accomplished  anyway 

with  a special  service  company  for 
two  liaison  "grasshopper”  planes  to 
settle  Sown  on  a specified  landing 
strip  at  a prearranged  time  to  pick 
up  aa  operator  and  impedimenta. 

It  turned  out  the  CO  thought  the 
Idea  a good  one  and  all  men  who 
could  be  spared  from  the  gun  pits 
and  the  like  were  invited.  A large 
room  In  an  unoccupied  villa  was 
suitable  so  about  700  GIs 
and  enjoyed  the  first  movie 
they  had  seen  for  over  three 
showing  "True  to  Life, 
Victor  Moore. 

w being  a headache  to  the 

Gasman  artillery  and  being  used 
for  air  courier  message  service,  the 
"cubs"  have  now  entered  'he  mor- 
ale fiaM 

— Maj.  D.  W.  Bingham 

Well.  Aren’t  We? 

Dear  Editor: 

We  have  a question  we  wish 
some  one  would  answer.  The  ques- 
tion is: 

"Just  what  the  hell  are  we  fight- 
ing this  war  for?” 

We  bear  of  American  soldiers 
being  ordered  to  salute  a Nazi  offi- 
cer. And  the  Nazi  returns  with  his 
"Hell  Hitler."  Did  we  fight  for 
this? 

Wo  road  of  Italian  prisoners  of 
war  in  the  States  being  sworn  into 
our  ova  Army,  given  the  same  rat- 
ings, the  same  pay.  All  because 
they  so  very  conveniently  voiced  a 
hatred  of  Nazism  and  Fascism.  Are 
we  fighting  for  that? 

11  this  continues  are  we  to  look 
forward  to  the  questionable  honor 
of  being  told  to  bow  to  all  Japa- 
nese. Are  we  fighting  for  that? 

Or  are  we  at  war?  Are  we  fight- 
ing ter  freedom?  Is  it  freedom  for 
us?  Or  freedom  ter  the  Nazi,  the 
Fascist? 

For  our  pert  they  can  send  them 
all  where  only  a good  Nazi  and  a 
good  Fascist  goes:  Straight  to  blazes. 

— T-Sgt.  Pickard 
T-Sgt.  Cobb 
S-Sgt.  Areilo 
Sgt.  Owens 


On  Guardsmen 

Dear  Editor: 

On  reading  your  July  13  issue, 
we  were  surprised  to  read  the  letter 
of  T-5  Childers,  rebuking  the  cad- 
res of  the  85th  and  88th  for  making 
corrections  of  statements  that  we, 
the  cadre,  were  guardsmen. 

I noticed  no  remarks  of  disrespect 
for  the  guardsmen  in  the  correcting 
statements,  and  don’t  sec  why  the 
guardsmen  can’t  give  honor  where 
honor  is  due.  It  is  true  that  guards- 
men as  well  as  regulars  did  a lot  of 
tough  fighting  before  either  the 
85th  or  88th  entered  the  picture. 
At  the  time  of  the  invasion  of 
North  Africa,  however,  we  regulars 
were  training  new  men  to  fire  the 
rifle  and  other  weapons.  Maybe 
you  would  like  to  be  relieved  by 
men  with  only  one  to  six  months 
service.  Personally,  I wouldn’t  I 
think  we  did  a very  good  Job  of 
training  those  men  for  combat 

It  seems  that  the  85th  and  88th, 
and  French,  cracked  the  Gustav 
Line  that  held  the  old-timers  for  so 
long. 

We  hope  this  is  a letter  to  end 
letters. 

—T-Sgt  Jodie  B.  Hardage 
Sgt  D.  W.  Babb 

...  I am  sure  the  article  we  read 
didn't  mean  to  belittle  the  National 
Guardsmen.  We  don’t  want  to  brag 
about  our  time  in  combat  or  in  fox- 
holes, we  Just  want  to  get  this 
damn  war  over  with  and  go  borne. 
If  he  is  looking  for  an  argument, 
he's  looking  in  the  wrong  place. 
We  were  drafted  to  help  win  a war 
and  I don't  give  a dam  what  the 
N.  G.  think;  I know  we’re  doing  a 
pretty  good  job.  Hereafter,  I would 
advise  Cpl.  Childers  to  think  before 
he  voices  his  views  because  he’s 
only  making  a damn  fool  of  him- 
self. 

— Sgt  Arthur  Weiner 
S-Sgt  Stanley  KucwaJ 
Pfc.  Chick  Gratini 
Pfc.  Bill  Welch 


Form  6001 

Dear  Editor: 

In  your  Wednesday,  July  12  edi- 
tion of  Stars  and  Stripes  in  "Lost 
and  Found,”  Cpl.  Herbert  D.  An- 
derson reports  losing  a wallet  con- 
taining a 400-doll ar  money  order. 

1 am  enclosing  an  application  for 
money  order  (form  8001 — Editor), 
which  states  that  the  maximum 
amount  for  which  a single  money 
order  may  be  issued  is  100  dollars. 

Wonder  how  CpL  Anderson  man 
aged  to  get  one  for  400  dollars? 
(04-dollar  question). 

— CpL  George  Ward 


Sonnet 


Sheathe  the  dark  sword;  let  it  grow 
fast  with  rust; 

Leash  up  the  martial  hounds;  let 
them  not  wake 
.With  howls  again  the  sleeping 
peaceful;  take 
The  fearsome  casque  and  fling  it 
In  the  dust. 

You  who  have  suffered,  rest;  and 
you  whose  tears 
Have  flooded  the  still  hours  of 
sleeping,  sleep 
Now  without  sorrow,  and,  fallen 
guardians,  keep 
No  more  your  ghostly  vigil— dark- 
deers. 


Let  hex  be  yours— let  her  dark, 
soothing  streams 
Blot  out  the  sick  last  horror,  and 


The  mask  of  hurt  and  sorrow  from 
your  face: 

There  are  no  more  alarms  to  break 
your  dreams. 

Sleep  now  forgetful  We  who  yet 
remain 

SShall  not  with  wars  violate  your 
deep  again. 

L —S-Sgt.  Kenneth  C.  Crabbe 


Nightfare 

The  moon  hung  by  a silver  thread, 
A star  blinked  its  drowsy  eye, 

The  dusk  of  evening  slowly  spread, 
And  1 hungrily  dreamed  of  pie. 

Lemon  meringue  with  that  certain 
tang, 

The  filling  two  feet  through, 

And,  I thought,  if  chocolate’s 
brought, 

A five-pound  hunk  will  do. 

That  fragrance  rare,  it  fills  the 
air: 

(I  dreamed  of  butterscotch), 

I reached  my  hand  to  snach  the 
pan, 

But  tightened  my  belt  a notch! 

There,  on  parade,  like  Mom  had 
made, 

I saw  with  gleaming  eye — 

Raisin,  mince,  deep  apple,  quince, 
And  cocoanut,  a story  high. 

I swear  I felt  sweet  rhubard  melt, 
Rich  cherry  brought  wild  glee, 

But  . . . utter  rot ...  all  that’s  for- 
got ... 

GI  pud  din’s  best  for  me! 

— M-Sgt,  Otto  Davis 


By  Sgt.  RALPH  G.  MARTIN 
Stars  and  Stripes  Staff  Writer 
RED  OAK,  Iowa— When  you 
walk  around  this  town  in  the  late 
afternoon  and  see  all  the  people 
sitting  co  their  comfortable  look- 
ing porches,  swaying  slowly  back 
and  forth  in  their  rocking  chairs, 
snoozing  in  the  sun;  and  when  you 
wander  over  to  the  park  in  the 
center  of  the  square  and  listen  to 
the  inconsequential  gossip  of  the 
people  on  the  benches — then  you’re 
tempted  to  say: 

"Hell,  these  people  don’t  even 
seem  to  know  that  there’s  a war 
going  on." 

But  that’s  one  thing  nobody  can 
say  about  Red  Oak.  Because  Red 
Oak,  probably  more  than  any  other 
small  town  in  America,  has  been 
hit  hard  by  the  war. 

To  most  of  the  American  people 
now  the  battle  of  Fold  Pass  In 
Tunisia  on  February  17,  last  year, 
is  something  far  away  and  long 
ago;  something  that  smacks  of  an- 
cient history.  But  to  the  5.476  citi- 
zens of  Red  Oak  the  story  of  Paid 
Pass  seems  fresh  and  bitter,  as  if 
it  happened  almost  yesterday. 

It  was  at  Paid  that  the  Krauts 
cut  off  large  sections  of  the  168th 
Regiment  of  the  34th  Division. 

When  the  "missing  in  action” 
telegrams  from  the  War  Depart 
ment  first  started  fUtering  into 
town  everybody  who  had  a son  or  a 
husband  or  a brother  in  Company 
M of  the  188th  slowly  wandered 
over  and  stood  in  front  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  office, 

There  Were  Three  . . . 

Mrs.  Mae  Stifle,  who  raised  four 
sons  and  four  daughters  by  work- 
ing 14  years  in  the  Hotel  Johnson, 
got  two  telegrams  within  15  min- 
utes of  each  other.  Her  two  sons. 
Pvt.  Dean  and  S-Sgt.  Frank,  were 
missing.  Next  morning  there  was 
still  another  telegram.  This  time 
it  was  her  son-in-law. 

The  tension  of  not  knowing 
whether  "missing”  meant  "dead” 
lasted  for  three  months.  Then  fin- 
ally word  came  through.  With  few 
exceptions  all  were  prisoners. 

If  New  York  City’s  losses  were 
proportionately  the  same  as  Red 
Oak’s  it  would  have  meant  a cas- 
ualty list  of  almost  20,000  soldiers 
In  a single  action.  And  even  then, 
the  shock  wouldn’t  have  been  so 
great,  because  here  in  Red  Oak 
every  name  meant  a certain  bouse 
on  a certain  street. 

It  wasn’t  long  before  the  parents 
of  the  prisoners  got  together  to 
exchange  information  about  their 
boys — discussing  whether  or  not 
It  was  a good  idea  to  send  dehy- 
drated soups  or  chocolate  or  warm 
winter  clothing  in  the  11  pound 
packages;  discussing  the  Red  Cross 
prisoner  of  war  bulletin  telling 
which  Nazi  camp  gives  the  best 
treatment;  talking  about  how  the 
boys  all  got  together  and  made 
popcorn  one  night  in  Stalag  HI  B, 
not  too  far  from  Berlin. 

’Don’t  Worry’  . . . 

They  always  say:  "Don’t  worry 
•bout  me,  Mom.  I’m  all  right” 

And  the  folks  tell  about  the  new 
babies  who  are  born  and  all  the 
old  folks  who  die,  and  how  the 
Boy  Scouts  and  4H  girls  help  out 
on  the  farms.  They  also  mention  the 
news  about  the  boys’  buddies— how 
the  War  Department  Just  awarded 
the  Silver  Star  to  Pfc.  Howard 
Koenemann,  who  wasn’t  captured 
in  Tunisia,  but  who  died  fighting 
in  Italy. 

”1  remember  that  Koenemann 
boy,”  said  Mrs.  Ella  Pine  Miller, 
the  gray  haired  "Mrs.  Chips”  of 
Red  Oak,  who  first  began  teaching 
here  in  1919.  "He  was  such  a good 
natured  boy,  but  he  was  so  terribly 
scared  of  arithmetic." 

To  Mrs.  Pine  the  names  on  the 
casualty  lists  are  not  dirty,  bloody, 
bearded  GI  Joes.  They're  still 
ruddy-cheeked  little  kids  in  the 
class  room. 

Another  woman  who  knows  most 
of  the  boys  is  Miss  Jeanette  Win- 
ters, the  town  librarian.  She  re- 
members Darrel  Durphey,  a seri- 
ous-faced, fat  boy  who  always  read 
military  books. 

And  John  Halberd,  who  used  the 
library  as  a dating  hangout. 

"I  always  had  to  keep  my  eye  on 
him  because  his  favorite  trick  was 
to  turn  out  the  lights  long  before 
closing  time.  He  never  did  finish 
school— he  never  will,  now.” 


UP  FRONT . . 


By  MAULDIN 


* They  had  a mania  for  destruction.  General  Every  elevator  cable  i* 

town  it  cat." 


New  Mobilization  Decree 
May  Be  Final  Nazi 


The  extraordinary  decree  where 
by  Adolf  Hitler  ordered  the  total 
resources  of  Germany  and  the  occu- 
pied or  annexed  countries  of  Eur- 
ope be  mobilized  for  war  well  may 
be  considered  as  a last  desperate 
bid  of  the  Nazi  hierarchy  to  retain 
control  of  their  crumbling  empire. 

Total  mobilization  of  Germany 
has  been  ordered  before.  Eighteen 
months  ago  such  a directive  was 
issued  following  the  German  disas 
ter  at  Stalingrad.  It  is  reasonable 
to  assume  that  since  that  time  all 
material  and  manpower  reserves  of 
the  Nazis  have  been  well  tapped. 

The  latest  decree,  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  Propaganda  Minister 
Joseph  Paul  Goebbels  as  Reich 
Trustee  for  Total  Mobilization  for 
War,  apparently  has  for  its  objec- 
tive the  diversion  of  all  private  and 
public  business  in  the  Nazi  domln 
ated  countries  as  well,  in  furthering 
of  the  Nazi  cause. 

The  ostensible  excuse  for  the  « 
traordinary  powers  given  to  Dr. 
Goebbels  was  the  unsuccessful  at 
tempt  on  the  life  of  Hitler  last  week 
and  the  determination  of  Nazi 
leaders  to  suppress  as  long  as  poi 
sible  any  internal  revolt  wnich 
would  bring  an  end  to  the  Nazi 
regime. 

Practically,  however,  the  decree 
was  the  outcome  of  the  succession 
of  military  defeats  by  the  German 
armies  in  Russia,  Italy  and  Nor- 
mandy and  their  psychological  ef- 
fects on  the  peoples  of  Germany 
and  the  satellite  countries. 

Commentators  throughout  the 
world  have  emphasized  that  the  at- 
tempted revolt  within  Germany 
was  organized  by  a small  clique  of 
military  leaders.  Allied  and  neutral 
analysists  have  hailed  an  apparent 
falling  out  between  the  military  and 
political  leaders  of  the  Greater 
Reich.  At  the  same  time,  it  should 
be  noted  that  there  was  no  such 
disagreement  in  the  earlier  years  of 
the  war  when  the  military  prospects 
of  Germany  were  bright  and  the 
possibility  of  Nazi  domination  of  a 


Combat  Correspondent 
Killed  Near  Montecatini 


WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY.  July  26 
—The  first  5th  Army  soldier-re- 
porter casualty  was  disclosed  today 
with  the  news  that  Pvt.  Lyn  C.  Wal- 
ton, 20.  Arlington,  Va.,  a member 
of  a Division  Public  Rela- 
tions Section,  was  killed  in  action 
near  Montecatini  on  July  9. 

Pvt.  Walton  was  with  an  Infan- 
try company  when  the  unit  was 
subjected  to  heavy  shell-fire  by 
German  artillery.  Formerly  classi- 
fied as  an  advance  scout,  Pvt.  Wal- 
ton was  appointed  combat  corre- 
spondent about  four  months  ago. 
In  civilian  life  he  was  sports  editor 
of  the  Alexandria,  Va.,  "Gazette." 
Prior  to  his  last  trip  to  the  front, 
he  had  declined  assignment  to  a 
rear  area. 


major  part  of  the  world  was  not  far 
from  realization. 

There  is  insufficient  factual 
knowledge  of  the  events  of  the  last 
week  in  Germany  to  accurately 
predict  the  course  of  events  to 
come.  It  is  known,  however,  ac- 
cording to  OWL  that  the  Germans 
have  lost  more  than  730,000  men  in 
killed,  wounded  and  captured  on 
the  Eastern,  Southern  and  Western 
fronts  since  May  11. 

Further  clues  to  the  state  of  af- 
fairs inside  Germany  will  no  doubt 
be  provided  by  Herr  Goebbels  who 
is  expected  any  day  to  explain  his 
plans  to  the  people  over  the  Ger- 
man radio. 

In  recent  months,  the  Nazi  prop- 
aganda line  has  tended  to  empha- 
size more  and  more  the  fact  that 
the  Germans  are  now  fighting  a 
total  war  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Reich  rather  than  the  old  de- 
pendable bogey  of  a "holy  war 
against  Communism." 

Regardless  of  how  Dr.  Goebbels 
tries  to  cloak  his  efforts  to  preserve 
the  Nazi  ideology  represented  by 
totalitarian  Germany,  the  impres- 
sion from  neutral  sources  is  that 
the  cunning  Nazi  propaganda  chief 
faces  the  biggest  job  of  his  career. 

— D.  W. 


Draftee  Substitute 
Snafus  Operation 


NEW  YORK— This  is  the  sad, 
sad  story  of  John  Wroblewski,  who 
was  too  smart  for  himself. 

John  had  his  18th  birthday  re- 
cently. And  on  that  day  he  was 
supposed  to  register  for  Selective 
Service. 

This  did  not  make  John  happy, 
so  having  read  in  history  books 
that  substitutes  w'ere  hired  during 
the  Civil  War,  John  talked  a 15- 
year-old  friend  into  registering  for 
him. 

The  friend  is  a very  healthy  guy 
who  is  also  very  patriotic,  so  when 
he  registered  as  John  Wroblewski, 
he  made  a very  favorable  impres- 
sion on  the  draft  board.  Not  long 
after,  he  came  back  and  applied 
for  immediate  induction  following 
his  physical. 

Only  he  didn't  tell  John  Wrob- 
lewski. 

Because  the  friend  Is  so  healthy, 
John  figured  he  better  take  the 
physical  himself  when  the  order 
came  through  for  him  to  report. 
So  he  did — and  he  passed. 

This  wasn’t  good,  but  John  fig- 
ured he  still  had  three  weeks  to 
mull  things  over  before  they’d  call 
him  or  rather  his  friend,  up.  Only 
he  didn’t  know  about  his  friend’s 
enthusiasm,  so  when  the  order  cam© 
to  report  to  Fort  Dix  immediately 
for  induction,  John  broke  down 
and  confessed  the  whole  thing. 

That  was  the  wrong  thing  to  do, 
because  he  was  arrested  on  charges 
of  draft  evasion  and  held  under 
1,500-dollar  bail  until  he  complies 
with  his  draft  board’s  orders. 


Thursday,  July  27,  1944 


Page  I 


/ THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 


ABOVE:  Three  patrolling  Infantrymen  of  the  5th  Army  are  wary- 
oyed  as  they  take  positions  near  the  Amo  River  in  historic  Pisa, 
Across  the  river,  the  Nazis  still  hold  part  of  the  town. 
LEFT:  Pvt.  Joe  R.  Medina  of  the  5th  Army  has  found  his  own 

dogrobber  in  Pisa.  The  uniform  is  strictly  hot  weather,  not  GI, 
and  the  new  recruit  goldbricks  all  the  time,  says  Pvt  Medina. 
RIGHT:  She  was  the  only  girl  in  Pisa,  so  Cpl.  Charles  W.  Nicola, 
who  found  her  when  he  entered  Pisa,  holds  her  hand  gently. 


Patrol  Could 
Talking,  But 


Hear  Nazis 
Didn't  Savvy 


(By  a staff 

WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY— It’s  too 
bad  that  none  of  the  three  Ameri- 
cans who  crossed  the  Arno  River 
into  German  territory  couldn’t  un- 
derstand German.  If  they  had 
"capish  Kraut”  as  Pvt.  Robert 
Rothacker  of  Chicago  and  San 
Francisco  put  it,  our  intelligence 
today  would  know  just  about  all  of 
Jerry's  plans  for  the  defense  of  the 
river. 

Led  by  S-Sgt.  Fred  Crane,  Fresno, 
Calif.,  the  trio  from  A Company 
came  so  close  to  the  enemy  on  his 
own  ground  that  they  heard  Nazi 
soldiers  whispering  among  them- 
selves. As  it  was  they  penetrated 
600  yards  beyond  the  river  bank 
past  the  low  cut  canebrake  wliich 
the  Germans  Appear  to  be  turning 
into  a field  of  fire. 

"We  walked  across  through  waist- 
deep  water,”  said  Pfc.  William  E. 
Short,  Camas,  Washington.  "It  was 
a bit  touchy  all  the  time  but  we 
didn't  get  into  trouble  once.” 

The  patrol  entered  the  Amo  at 
0130  hours  and  crawled  through  and 
around  the  German  mines  for  three 
hours.  All  the  men  were  veterans 
of  other  patrols,  and  Pfc.  Short’s 
right  ami  still  bore  a fresh  scar 
from  a machine  pistol  bullet  which 
hit  him  several  days  ago. 

"We  were  mighty  lucky  to  get  by 
Without  drawing  fire,”  Sgt.  Crane 
declared.  But  the  patrol  leader’s 
burly  physique,  gained  by  years  of 
driving  piles,  indicated  that  he 
could  take  care  of  himself  with 
more  than  his  weight  of  Jerries.  He 
and  his  men  were  under  orders  to 
hold  their  fire  unless  it  was  ab- 


20,000  Drinks— 
All  On  The  House 


By  a Staff  Writer 

WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY  — It’S 
on  the  house  when  Cpl.  Donald  E. 
Bodle,  Bran  or  cl.  Minn.,  serves  up 
the  drinks.  And  the  house  dis- 
penses plenty  of  drinks,  too,  20,000 
or  more  gallons  every  day. 

Located  by  a muddy  creek  on 
flat  ground  cleared  recently  by  a 
bulldozer,  Cpl.  Bodle  and  tliree 
assistants  are  open  lor  business 
24  hours  a day  at  their  two-hose 
station,  making  sure  that  their  di- 
vision has  plenty  of  drinking 
Water. 

One  of  four  water  points  In  the 
division  sector,  this  unit  pumps 
the  water  from  the  creek  through 
a mobile  chlorinator  and  filter  and 
into  a canvas  tank  holding  3,000 
gallons.  Then  trucks  puli  up  to 
one  of  the  outlets  and  fill  their 
live-gallon  cans  or  water  trailers. 

With  Cpl.  Bodle  are  Pvt.  John  S. 
O'Brien,  Kansas  City;  Pvt.  Frank 
Hricson,  Iowa,  and  Pfc. 'Lewis  Bal 
drey,  Kansas,  who  also  doubles  as 
cook.  The  quartet  lives  an  isolated 
life  in  a tent  near  their  water. 

Even  at  night  when  business  is 
slow,  the  water  tenders  can’t  for- 
get work.  One  man  must  be  on 
hand  to  answer  calls  and  to  make 
chlorine  and  Ph  tests  on  the  water 
every  half  hour. 

"I've  never  been  able  to  find 
what  Ph  means,”  Bodle  admitted, 
"but  I don’t  care  as  long  as  it 
comes  out  all  right.  Anyway,  our 
water  is  as  pure  as  anybody’s.  Have 
a drink.” 


Writer) 

solutely  essential  for  them  to  shoot 
their  way  out.  But  not  one  of  the 
270  tommy  gun  cartridges  they  car- 
ried ever  left  a clip. 

While  Sgt.  Crane  and  company 
were  stepping  through  the  cool 
river,  another  trio  attempted  an- 
other crossing  farther  up  the 
stream.  Sgt.  Walter  F.  Bennett, 
Queets,  Wash.,  probed  the  German 
defenses  for  several  hundred  yards 
in  his  sector  but  ’’they  had  too 
much  for  us  so  we  had  to  return.” 

A full-blooded  Clallam  Indian, 
Sgt.  Bennett  is  well  known  through- 
out his  regiment  for  his  ability  to 
use  an  expert  huntsman’s  tactics 
on  tracking  down  the  enemy.  When 
his  company  is  on  the  offensive  he 
directs  a light  mortar  squad  which 
knocked  out  three  German  machine 
gun  nests  within  a few  minutes  last 
week. 

With  Sgt.  Bennett  were  Pfc. 
James  E.  Odle,  Modesto,  Calif.,  and 
Pvt.  Robert  Green,  Philadelphia. 
Both  said  they  could  hear  Germans 
talking  across  the  river  in  their  en- 
trenched positions  which  included 
machine  gun  nests. 


Yanks  Capture  Four 
Mighty  Scared  Krauts 


WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY,  ITALY 
—The  orders  had  been  to  set  up  the 
60  mm.  mortar  on  a slope  behind 
the  house,  and  S-Sgt.  Wendy  D. 
Felton,  Ortonville,  Minn.,  squad 
leader  of  the  First  Armored  Divi- 
sion, sent  Pvt.  Thomas  G.  E.  Camp- 
bell, McKeesport,  Pa.,  to  report  that 
the  orders  had  been  carried  out. 

It  was  dusk  and  as  Pvt.  Campbell 
passed  the  house  a light  caught  his 
eye.  In  the  shadows,  with  their 
backs  to  him,  stood  two  German 
soldiers. 

Pvt.  Campbell  drew  his  .45  and 
yelled  "Halt!”  although  the  Krauts 
weren’t  going  anyplace  at  the  mo- 
ment. They  spun  around,  reach- 
ing for  their  guns,  but  came  to  the 
platoon  CP  quietly  after  looking 
down  the  barrel  of  Pvt.  Campbell’s 
pistol. 

Back  at  the  house  Pfc.  Roger  J. 
MacKecknie,  Rockford,  111.,  and 
Pvt.  Bernardino  Jacques,  Houston, 
Texas,  fired  through  the  door,  tossed 
hand  grenades  and  searched  every 
room. 

In  a hay  mow  in  the  born  side 
of  the  house  they  found  two  nervous 
Nazis— nursing  their  eardrums. 


Stan,  The  Donut  Man, 
Returns  To  Front  Lines 


By  Pvt.  ROBERT  MEYER 

Stars  and  Stripes  Staff  Writer 


WITH  THE  5TH  ARMY— Almost 
any  day  now,  the  men  up  front  will 
see  a bright  red  three-and-ahalf- 
ton  truck  roaming  about  the  for- 
ward area.  They’ll  probably  think 
the  circus  has  come  to  entertain 
them*  but  in  reality  it  will  be  their 
old  friend  Stan,  the  Donut  Man,  In 
his  new  improved  mobile  unit. 

Almost  every  soldier  in  these 
parts  know  Stan.  His  full  name  is 
Stanley  Anderson,  Dumont,  N.  J., 
and  he  was  sent  overseas  by  the 
National  Doughnut  Organization  to 
organize  a mobile  unit  for  the 
American  Red  Cross  during  the 
Tunisian  campaign.  When  that  Job 
was  finished  he  was  free  to  return 
to  the  States;  but  he  would  have 
none  of  that.  He’s  been  at  the 
front  ever  since. 

It’s  not  revealing  military  secrets 
to  report  that  Stan  has  been  dis- 
tributing between  7.000  and  8,000 
do-nuts  a day,  or  that  he  expects 
to  boost  his  daily  output  to  15,000 
when  the  new  machine  goes  into 
operation.  Because  in  the  lines 
Stan  doesn’t  ration  do-nuts.  He 


This  GI  Was  True  To  His  Teeth, 
Even  Though  They  Were  False  To  Him 


This  is  one  story  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean campaign  with  teeth  in  it 
— eighth  of  them  mine. 

Along  with  some  store  teeth  that 
filled  in  various  gaps  they  did  all 
right  during  those  dim,  distant  ci- 
vilian days.  They  were  scattered, 
but  all  uppers — two  way  back  on 
the  left  side;  one  all  alone  and  out 
of  sight  on  the  same  side;  two 
right  in  front  with  which  I could 
play  lifc-of-the-party  by  imitating 
the  hare  in  those  animated  car- 
toons, a diversion  from  trying  on 
ladies’  hats,  and  the  other  three 
distributed  back  on  the  right  side. 

It  was  during  tne  days  when  Al- 
lied troops  were  rounding  up 
hordes  of  enemy  prisoners  on  Cape 
Bon  that  one  of  the  teeth  in  what 
is  professionally  called  my  denture, 
came  loose.  I was  witl?  an  air  force 
outfit  then,  way  up  front  and  far 
from  dental  laboratories  that  could 
have  corrected  the  defect  in  a mat- 
ter of  a couple  of  hours.  But  I suf- 
fered along  with  a missing  store 
tooth  until  last  July.  Then  I went 
to  see  the  dentist 

The  dental  officer  was  kindness 
itself. 

’’These  two  flugnagel  teeth  (I’m 
not  up  on  dental  terminology)  are 
going  to  give  you  lots  of  trouble," 
he  advised,  as  only  Army  Dental 
officers  can  advise.”  My  suggestion, 
since  we  have  to  send  the  denture 
to  the  laboratory  anyway,  is  to 
take  those  two  out  and  have  a 
brand  new  denture  made  that  will 
give  you  years  of  service,  and  with 
a saviside  poriisan  that  will  allow 
you  to  taste  your  food  aEd  enjoy 
eating  once  more.  Now,  open.” 

The  extraction  didn’t  hurt  a bit. 
I was  to  come  back  ”in  a few  days,” 
when  an  impression  would  be  made 
for  this  new,  marvelous  denture 
and  all  would  be  well. 

"In  a few  days,”  however,  I was 


By  Sgt.  LEN  SMITH 

Stars  and  Stripes  Staff  Writer 
on  my  way  out  of  that  outfit  on 
transfer,  with  my  old  denture 
jumping  all  over  my  mouth  be- 
cause it  was  now  without  the  trac- 
tion afforded  by  the  two  "flugna- 
gels,”  but  wasn’t  I going  to  the 
very  seat  of  all  Army  wisdom  in 


this  theater?  There’d  be  laborator- 
ies galore  there. 

It  was  now  early  September.  The 
Dental  Officer  of  the  Day  was 
kindness  itself,  but  his  appoint- 
ment book  was  heavy. 

”1  can  give  you  an  appointment 
for  Oct  9,”  he  told  me,  "We’U  make 
you  an  excellent  denture.” 

I went  away  content,  back  to  the 
office  to  find  travel  orders  sending 
me  to  Italy. 

It  was  now  early  December. 
Everybody  jn  the  Station  Hospital 
was  kindness  itself.  They  couldn’t 
do  enough  to  make  my  aching  back 
comfortable.  Then  one  day  the 
dental  officer  came  alongside  my 
bed. 

•’I’ve  heard  you  have  a tooth 
problem.  Open.  Hum.  You  need  a 
new  denture.  Now  these  two  spani- 
sant  teeth  are  going  to  give  you 
lots  of  trouble,"  he  advised.  "Now 
my  suggestion  is  that  you  let  me 
take  out  those  two  teeth  and  have 
a brand  new  denture  made  that 


will  give  you  years  of  service,  and 
we  can  make  the  latest  saviside 
portisan  that  will  free  your  palate 
and  allow  you  to  taste  your  food 
and  enjoy  eating  once  more.*  * 

The  words  were  remisicent  1 
stopped  him.  "But  will  I be  here 
long  enough?  Will  it  be  fin- 
ished . . ” 

”In  a few  days,  and  you’ll  be  here 
to  get  them.  Now  open.” 

The  extractions  didn’t  hurt  a bit 
But  the  next  day  I found  myself  on 
a hospital  ship  enroute  back  to 
North  Africa,  where,  the  dental 
staff  apologized,  I’d  find  the  best- 
equipped  laboratories,  eager  and 
waiting  to  finish  my  job  for  me. 
By  now,  my  eight  teeth  had  been 
reduced  to  four— all  far  from  con- 
tact with  anything  requiring  more 
chewing  than  vegetable  hash. 

It  was  now  early  January.  At 
last  I was  out  of  hospitals  and  back 
on  the  job  at  the  old  stand.  I went 
to  see  the  dentist. 

He  was  kindness  itself.  He  wanted 
me  to  have  the  best. 

"Let  me  give  you  some  advice,” 
he  began.  ’’Now  those  back  teeth 
are  too  loose  to  hold  a denture.  My 
suggestion  is  that  you  let  me  take 
out  those  four  teeth  and  have  an 
entire  plate  made  that  will  give  you 
years  of  service  . . Now  open.” 

It  was  early  March.  Cassino 
hadn’t  fallen  yet,  but  all  my  uppers 
had,  and  everybody  was  kindness 
itself — even  the  outfit  wag,  who,  on 
being  told  I’d  lost  all  my  teeth,  re- 
plied: "Keep  your  mouth  shut  and 
no  one  will  notice  it’  But  the  Army 
worked  at  top  speed,  and  I got  me 
a top  plate  with  which  I munched 
carrots  and  GI  beef  on  the  first 
day. 

It  is  now  July,  and  I’m  having  a 
little  lower  teeth  trouble.  Hold 
your  hats,  here  we  go  again. 


also  gives  a bonus  of  one  dozen  to 
every  Yank  who  captures  a Jerry. 

Stan  and  his  aides-de-camp,  Pvt, 
George  Boucher,  Detroit,  Mich.; 
Pvt.  A1  Oser,  Brooklyn,  and  Augus- 
tin a Marchinni,  Italy,  were  putting 
their  newest  outpost  into  shape, 
and  as  they  busied  themselves 
about  the  shop  Stan  recited  a tab- 
loid version  of  his  travels. 

"Tills  town  wasn’t  quite  as  hot 
as  the  one  we  were  in  the  other 
day,”  Stan  reported.  "Or  maybe 
we  just  waited  longer  to  move  In 
here.  In  the  other  town  the  ma- 
chine-gunners were  still  manning 
their  guns  at  each  corner  of  the 
block  where  he  set  up.  It  was  Just 
too  good  a spot  to  pass  up,  though 
— a regular  night  club  with  red  and 
white  checkered  cloths  on  the  table, 
a radio  and  phonograph  with  Ital- 
ian records. 

"I  wouldn’t  be  anywhere  else  but 
right  up  front  as  long  as  the  war 
is  on.  Man,  I went  into  Rome  with 
the  troops  and  expected  to  move 
out  with  the  first  ones.  I was  there 
13  days  and  gave  away  300,000  do- 
nuts, but  I was  glad  to  get  the  hell 
out  of  there.” 

In  addition  to  being  the  front- 
line Do-nut  King,  Stan  also  looks 
after  other  physical  comforts  of 
slodiers.  He  frequently  sets  up 
tailor  shops  and  laundries,  selling 
civilians  the  Idea  of  working  for 
the  soldiers  so  the  men  can  rest. 
He  also  rounds  up  local  barbers  and 
helps  set  them  up  in  business  for 
the  benefit  of  GIs. 

”1  suppose  I eat  as  well  as  any 
general  in  the  Army,”  Stan  con- 
tinued. "The  men  are  always  bring- 
ing me  fresh  fruits,  vegetables, 
eggs  and  chickems.  They’ve  also 
brought  me  so  much  wine — the 
GIs  idea  of  the  gift  supreme — that 
I’ve  lost  my  taste  for  it.” 

Some  soldiers  lounging  around 
the  shop,  happily  dunking  dough- 
nuts In  hot  coffee,  suggested  that 
Stan  should  be  given  some  sort  of 
decoration  for  the  job  he  has  done. 
They  weren’t  quite  sure  what  the 
decoration  should  be,  maybe  just 
a special  medal  struck  off  and  In- 
scribed "To  Stan,  the  Do-nut  Man, 
for  his  unexcelled  frontline  service.” 

Stan  only  said,  "Listen,  Joe, 
there’s  just  one  decoration  that 
I’d  like  to  receive.  That’s  the  In- 
fantry Combat  Badge.  If  I could 
legitimately  receive  one  of  those 
badges  I’d  be  the  proudest  man  in 
Uncle  Sam’s  service!  Anybody  want 
any  more  do-nuts?" 


She  Had  Plenty  Cash, 
But  Starved  To  Death 


BOSTON,  July  26  — Miss  Eliza- 
beth Joyce,  82-year-old  recluse,  had 
three  bank  books  showing  deposits 
of  6,000  dollars  but  died  of  starva- 
tion in  a 14-room  house.  Police 
found  the  body  and  said  she  had 
apparently  been  doed  for  two 
months.  Her  bankbooks  were  un- 
der the  carpets. 

The  police  entered  the  house  at 
the  request  of  a cousin,  Frank 
Joyce,  who  told  reporters  his  cousin 
had  lived  in  the  house  for  70  years 
taking  boarders  until  25  years  ago 
when  she  retired  into  her  prison- 
like quarters  and  never  left  the 
house. 


Faye  6 


THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 


Thursday,  July  27,  1944 


££WP  /Iff 
VO  UR 
EARS. 

BY  JIM  BURCHARD 


ROME,  July  26— The  other  day 
we  got  to  wondering  what  would 
happen  11  Frank  Sinatra  suddenly 
appeared  in  Italy  as  a USO  per- 
former. 

Would  sentimental  Roman  maid- 
ens hear  The  Voice  and  go  mad 
with  ecstasy?  Would  they  emulate 
their  American  sisters,  roll  up  their 
eyes  and  go  out  of  this  world  with 
palpitating  bosoms?  Would  the 
swoon  crooner  be  hailed  as  the 
greatest  Italian  heart  throb  since 
Rudy  Valentino  took  off  from 
south  Italy  for  Hollywood? 

There  was  one  way  to  find  out. 
In  the  interests  of  indoor  sport, 
we  summoned  five  Roman  maidens 
of  assorted  ages  and  sizes  and  in- 
formed them  they  were  about  to  re- 
ceive the  thrill  of  a lifetime.  Then 
wo  sat  them  In  front  of  a victrola 
and  triumphantly  produced  such 
noted  Sinatra  recordings  as,  "She’s 
Funny  That  Way/'  ’Til  Be 
Around"  and  "You’ve  Got  A Hold 
On  Me." 

Admittedly,  the  famed  swoon 
crooner  was  not  there  in  person. 
But  that  was  a minor  item.  The 
Voice— the  vocal  magic  that  flat- 
tens a million  bucks  and  twice  as 
many  gals  a year— would  be  suf- 
ficient. 

Now  came  the  big  moment.  After 
arranging  fresh  water  and  spirits 
of  ammonia  on  a convenient  table 
to  handle  all  emergencies,  and  in- 
serting a new  needle,  the  haunting, 


Lem  In  Rough  Shape 
After  Kayo  By  Lane 

NEWARK,  N.  J.,  July  20— The 
condition  of  Lem  Franklin,  Negro 
heavyweight  from  Chicago,  was 
described  as  "pretty  poor”  at 
Newark  City  Hospital.  Franklin 
was  removed  to  the  hospital  after 
being  knocked  out  by  Larry  Lane, 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  Negro,  in  the  ninth 
round  of  a scheduled  ten-round 
bout  in  Meadow  Brook  Bowl. 

Dr.  Herbert  Conner  said  X- 
rays  revealed  Franklin  had  a 
serious  brain  concussion  and  par- 
tial paralysis  of  the  right  arm  and 
right  leg.  Lane’s  blows,  plus  the 
fall,  he  said,  were  responsible. 


Pro  Boxing  Returns 
To  Rome  On  Sunday 


ROME,  July  26 — The  fine  art  of 
organized  fisticuffs  will  return  to 
the  Eternal  City  Sunday  with  a 
five-bout  benefit  show  for  Italian 
patriots  at  Arena  Quattro  Fontane. 

Promoter  Steve  Klaus,  formerly 
of  Pittsburgh,  has  lined  up  a tasty 
card  featuring  a ten-rounder  be- 
tween Roberto  Proiettl  and  Bruno 
Bisterzo,  a couple  of  Roman  light- 
weights. Proletti,  22,  formerly  held 
the  Italian  title,  but  dropped  it  to 
Mario  Gualandri  two  days  before 
his  wedding.  Gualandri  now  Is  In 
Milan.  Proiettl  is  the  proud  papa 
of  a three-month-old  boy,  and  Pro- 
moter Klaus  is  the  godfather. 

This  will  be  an  All-Italian  show 
starting  at  6 PM.  Ringside  tickets 
are  one  dollar,  fifty  cents  a throw, 
with  other  seats  at  one  buck  and 
still  others  at  50  cents.  The  sup- 
porting card  will  feature  one  eight, 
two  six  and  one  four-round  bouts. 
Tickets  can  be  purchased  at  the 
Arena  Quattro  Fontane,  Via  Delle 
Quattro  Fontane. 

The  Italian  Patriots'  Organiza- 
tion looks  after  destitute  country- 
men from  liberated  territories.  They 
roll  Into  town  with  no  cash,  no 
place  to  sleep  and  empty  stomaclis. 
Promoter  Klaus  hopes  to  realize 
enough  money  from  this  boxing 
show  to  take  a good  many  patriots 
out  of  the  bread  line. 


KAYOED  AT  KEYSTONE 


ROY  CULLENBINE,  RIGHT  FIELDER  of  the  Cleveland  Indians, 
Is  forced  out  at  second  plate  in  a bit  of  hot  action  at  Yankee  Sta- 
dium, New’  York.  The  Y’ankee  keystone  warrior,  George  Stlrnweiss, 
is  tossing  to  Nick  Ettcn  at  first  to  complete  the  double.  The  Y’anks 
w’on,  4-0.  (Acme  Photo ) 


Ol  Diz  Still  Fogs’  Em , 
But  Now  It’s  Just  Hot  Air 


By  Sgt.  GEORGE  SLOCUM 
( Special  to  The  Stars  and  Stripes ) 


plaintive  moan  of  The  Voice  filled 
the  room.  He  sang,  "I’m  not  much 
to  look  at — ."  those  words  which 
draw  anguished  shrieks  of  "No,  No, 
No"  from  American  swoon  addicts. 

So  what  happened! 

Signorina  Assunta  Crocetta,  lus- 
cious dork-eyed  wench,  picked  up 
her  mop  and  said,  in  Italian:  "A 
good  voice.  Now  I must  return  to 
my  work." 

But  hold,  we  implored  Signorina 
Crocetta.  She  had  heard  only  a few 
words.  Give  The  Voice  a chance. 
Surely  she  was  beginning  to  feel 
dizzy  with  emotion;  surely  she 
needed  one  good  whiff  of  ammonia. 

Signorina  Crocetta  politely  lis- 
tened. Strain  our  eyes  though  we 
did,  we  could  not  detect  a single 
palpitation  of  her  bosom.  No  ex- 
clamation of  "Oh,  my  aching 
back,"  burst  from  those  lovely  lips. 
She  merely  toyed  with  a loose 
strand  of  her  mop  and  looked 
bored. 

Signora  Clara  Parrl  and  Signo- 
rina Juliana  Lauchori  tapped  time 
with  their  feet  and  began  to  dis- 
cuss a cooking  recipe.  Signorina 
Gisella  Houser  said,  "Do  you  have 
that  piece,  ’Home  On  The 
Range?' " Signorina  Elena  Calo 
muttered,  "Oh,  Oh!" 

"Ah.’  we  said  to  Signorina  Colo, 
•’you  feel  the  power  of  The  Voice. 
You  are  thrilled."  ^ 

"No,"  replied  Signorina  Calo,  "I 
have  a cramp  in  my  leg." 

As  the  fourth  record  was  played, 
the  ladies  became  restless  to  the 
point  of  mutiny.  The  Voice  was  go- 
ing great  guns  on  "A  Lovely  Way 
To  Spend  Axi  Evening"  when  the 
mutiny  became  an  actual  fact. 

"This  is  very  silly,"  said  Signora 
Parrl.  "If  I don’t  get  at  my  ironing, 
you  boys  will  be  wearing  dirty 
clothes.  Your  Signor  Sinatra  has  a 
nice  voice,  but  not  enough  volume. 
Why.  one  of  our  neighbors  down- 
stairs. the  man  with  the  rooster, 
can  sing  better.  Perhaps  you  should 
write  about  him  to  those  radio 
people  in  America." 

It  was  hopeless.  Obviously,  the 
Roman  maidens  Just  could  not  ap- 
preciate The  Voice.  Perhaps  they 
were  Just  non-swooners.  They  filed 
from  the  room,  jabbering  in  Italian 
while  the  great  Sinatra  kept  sing- 
ing to  nobody  in  particular. 

Some  day  we  shall  experiment 
again.  Perhaps  Freddie  McGurgle, 
rendering  his  beautiful  ballad,  "It’s 
Always  Catfish  Stew,v  can  bring 
the  SJgnorinas  to  their  knees  in  a 
good  old-fashioned  swoon.  At  any 
rate,  we  wouldn’t  advise  Frankie 
to  try  his  luck  over  here. 


Speedy  Filly  Seen 
Reaping  Top  Honors 


NEW  YORK,  July  26 — Calumet 
Farm’s  sensational  filly.  Twilight 
Tear,  apparently  is  a cinch  to  win 
"horse-of-the-year"  and  three- 
year -old  championship  honors,  turf 
followers  indicated  following  a re- 
view of  bangtail  performances 
throughout  the  racing  season. 

When  the  speedy  miss  galloped 
to  her  11th  straight  victory  in  the 
recent  Arlington  classic,  she  not 
only  added  to  her  record  as  top 
three-year-old  lassie  of  the  year, 
but  established  a good  claim  for 
leading  honors  in  her  division.  Fin- 
ishing after  her  w*as  Pensive, 
stablemate  and  winner  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Derby  and  Preakness. 

Although  Twilight  Tear’s  1944 
earnings  of  128,790  dollars  do  not 
match  Pensive’s  167,975  dollars,  the 
filly  has  done  everything  asked  of 
her  this  season.  If  she  is  voted  the 
ranking  honors,  it  will  be  the  first 
time  one  of  her  sex  made  the 
grade. 


Gordon  Is  Hof  Stuff 
Against  MP  Pitchers 


SANTA  FE.,  N.  M. — Joe  McCar- 
thy’s shortstop  worries  continue, 
but  not  so  with  the  Camp  Luna, 
N.  M.,  Airtrancos,  thanks  to  a for- 
mer Yankee,  Joe  Gordon. 

Since  Joining  the  Airtrancos,  the 
flash  has  been  playing  shortstop, 
hitting  spectacularly  and  fielding 
like  a demon.  In  a two-game  series 
against  the  Santa  Fe  MPs,  Gordon, 
batting  in  the  cleanup  spot,  col- 
lected eight  hits  in  II  trips  to  the 
plate. 

The  ex-Bronx  Bomber  had  three 
for  six  In  the  first  game,  won  by 
the  Airtrancos,  22-16,  and  boasted 
a perfect  five-for-five  in  the  sec- 
ond tiff,  also  won  by  Camp  Luna, 
16-6. 


Manush  Gets  It 

WILLIAMSPORT,  Pa.,  July  26— 
Tommy  Richardson,  Eastern  League 
president,  announced  that  Hcinic 
Monush,  former  big  league  great 
now  managing  the  Scranton  Red 
Sox,  had  been  suspended  indefin- 
itely for  failure  to  pay  a 50-dollar 
line  imposed  on  him. 


ST.  LOUIS— One  thing  that 
makes  baseball  magnates  love  radio 
sponsors  so  much  is  the  generally 
accepted  belief  that  broadcasts  of 
ball  games  direct  from  the  park 
will  rekindle  the  flame  of  interest 
that  lies  dormant  in  the  hearts  of 
some  of  the  old-time  fans  and 
encourage  them  to  come  out  to  the 
park  more  often. 

But  in  St.  Louis,  the  broadcaster, 
one  Dizzy  Dean,  puts  on  a show 
that  keeps  the  fans  glued  to  their 
radios.  So  picturesque  and  almost 
risque  are  some  of  his  remarks  that 
the  fans  get  more  pleasure  out  of 
the  Dizzy-isms  than  they  would  out 
of  watching  the  game. 

STILL  JUST  BALLS 

Jin*  Tobin’s  "flutterball"  and  Rip 
Sewell’s  "eephus"  ball  have  come  in 
for  a lot  of  attention  from  the 
press  and  broadcasters.  Indeed, 
many  announcers  and  writers  have 
consulted  their  dictionaries  and 
physics  textbooks  for  words  to  de- 
scribe the  trajectory  of  these  "slow- 
er than  slow*’’  pitches. 

Great  discourses  have  been  de- 
livered on  the  psychological  effect 
on  batters,  managers,  players  and 
everyone  concerned.  That  sort  of 
stuff  ain’t  for  Ol’  Dizz  though.  He 
dismissed  Tobin’s  flutterball  one 
day  with:  "Folks,  I just  can’t  see 
how  he  gets  it  up  there.  Seems  to 
me  he  must  Just  goose  it  along." 

In  the  days  when  mention  of  the 
weather  was  forbidden  on  the  air, 
the  rugged  Individualist  in  Dean 
rebelled,  but  he  kept  w’ithin  the  law 
with  such  sage  observations  as:  "I 
ain’t  allow’ed  to  tell  you  why  the 
game’s  been  called,  folks,  but  if 
you’ll  Just  look  out  your  window, 
you’ll  And  out."  Another  time  Dean 
ventured  the  opinion  that  the  um- 
pires ought  to  call  a temporary 
halt  to  proceedings  with  this  ob- 
servation: "I  don’t  know’  why  time: 
"They’ve  stopped  the  ball  game 
folks,  after  all  that  ain’t  sw’eat 
that’s  runnin’  down  the  pitcher’s 
face"  and  still  another  time: 
"They’s  stopped  the  ball  game  and 
I ain’t  allowed  to  say  why.  But  I 
sure  hope  the  little  woman  remem- 
bered to  pull  them  windows  down 
at  home." 

SAME  OLD  DIZ 

One  time  Dizzy  was  describing 
a game  wherein  the  pitcher,  al- 
though getting  his  brains  knocked 
out,  continued  to  stay  in  there  and 
bear  down  with  every  pitch.  This 
prompted  the  Great  Man  to  pay  the 
highest  compliment  at  his  com- 
mand. "He's  a great  pitcher  just 
like  me,"  Dean  said,  "plenty  of 
guts." 

Occasionally  a pitcher  can  get 
something  past  an  umpire  but  he 
has  to  get  up  pretty  early  in  the 
morning  to  fool  Dizzy.  You  can’t 
fool  an  old  fooler,  or  words  to  that 
effect.  Dizzy  once  told  the  fans 
that  he  caught  Larry  French,  then 
pitching  for  Brooklyn,  using  a spit 
ball.  "Folks,  if  you  could  see  how 
Mickey  Owen  throws  that  ball 


back,  you’d  know  something  was 
up.  But  he  can’t  throw  it  back  fast 
enough  to  fool  old  Diz." 

Another  time  he  described  how 
Bobo  Newsom  was  scuffing  the  dirt 
in  front  of  the  pitcher’s  slat  with 
his  spikes.  ’’He’s  just  tryin’  to  con- 
fuse the  ’empire’  so  he  can  get  a 
little  nearer  to  home  plate  before 
he  throws  the  ball,"  Dizzy  informed 
his  listeners,  ’’but  he  ain’t  gonna 
get  away  with  it.” 

Dean,  the  baseball  announcer  in 
that  case,  was  probably  speaking 
as  Dean,  ’’the  Voice  of  Experience.” 


Cuban  Star  Returns 
To  Nats— Or  Draft 


WASHINGTON,  July  26  — Gil- 
berts Torres,  one  of  the  Cuban  ball 
players  owned  by  the  Senators  who 
returned  to  his  native  land  last 
week,  Is  ready  to  come  back  to  the 
Nats  and  take  over  his  third  base 
position.  There  are  prospects,  how- 
ever, that  Torres  will  soon  be 
wearing  the  uniform  of  the  U.  S. 
Army. 

The  26-year -old  star  had  been 
enjoying  a good  season  with  the 
Solons  until  Selective  Service 
caught  up  with  him,  canceling  a 
previous  exemption.  The  third 
sacker  and  his  wife  returned  to 
Havana  and  settled  his  business 
affairs.  Now  he’s  coming  back  to 
play  ball  and  register  for  the  draft. 
Roberto  Ortiz  and  Fermin  Guerra, 
other  Cuban  stars,  are  undecided 
about  future  plans. 


Jake  Wade's  Hurling 
Features  White  Sox 
Defeat  Of  Senators 


NEW  YORK,  July  26— Near  per- 
fect relief  pitching  by  Jake  Wade 
plus  a 14-hit  attack  on  Mickey 
Haefner  and  Alex  Carrasquel  gave 
the  White  Sox  a 9-6  triumph  over 
the  Senators  in  Chicago.  After  the 
Solons  had  cuffed  Bill  Dietrich  for 
nine  safeties  and  six  runs  in  five 
innings  to  tie  the  game  at  6-6,  the 
bespectacled  twirler  was  removed 
for  a pinch-hitter  and  Wade  re- 
placed him,  hurling  hitless  ball  and 
walking  only  one  batter  in  the  last 
four  frames. 

The  Dykesmen  tallied  two  runs 
in  the  last  half  of  the  fifth  giving 
them  an  8-6  lead  and  handing 
Dietrich  the  triumph.  Haefner  was 
charged  with  the  loss,  allowing  11 
hits  in  four  and  one-third  innings. 

Big  Jim  Tabor,  who  has  been 
out  of  baseball  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  year  with  an  injured  leg, 
returned  to  his  third  base  post  and 
poled  out  four  hits  to  lead  the 
Red  Sox  to  a 7-3  victory  over  the 
Tigers  at  Detroit.  Tabor  climaxed 
a perfect  day  at  the  bat  with  a 
homer  in  the  ninth. 

BOSOX  BELT  APPLE 

The  Bosox  made  16  hits  for  a 
total  of  22  bases  off  Rufe  Gentry. 
Johnny  Corsica  and  Zeb  Eaton, 
sewing  up  the  fray  In  the  fifth 
with  a four-run  rally  on  hits  by 
Lou  Finney,  George  Metkovich, 
Pete  Fox,  Bobby  Doerr,  Tabor  and 
Skecter  Newsome.  Yank  Terry 
coasted  along  behind  his  lead  un- 
til he  weakened  in  the  seventh, 
when  the  Bengals  scored  their 
runs. 

Pirate  batters  had  a field  day 
making  20  safeties  to  defeat  the 
Giants,  15-0,  at  the  Polo  Grounds. 
A big  second  inning  accounted  for 
nine  runs  with  Pete  Coscarat  and 
Vince  DiMaggio  chasing  five  across 
on  round-trippers.  Rookie  Bobby 
Barthelson  and  Frank  Seward  bore 
the  brunt  of  the  Buc  attack. 

Max  Butcher  gave  the  Giants 
six  scattered  hits  and  not  one  of 
Mel  Ott’s  boys  reached  third  base. 
Coscarat  and  Jimmy  Russell  each 
made  four  bingles  while  Bob  El- 
liot, besides  homering  In  the  ninth, 
drove  in  six  tallies. 

The  Cubs  chalked  up  five  runs 
in  the  third  inning  off  Tom  War- 
ren to  beat  Brooklyn,  14-6,  at  Eb- 
betts  Field.  Warren  was  lifted  after 
the  uprising  and  was  replaced  by 
Ralph  Branca.  Charley  Fuchs  and 
Hal  Gregg  completed  the  Dodgers’ 
pitching  parade  which  yielded  18 
hits.  Red  Lynn  started  for  the  Cubs 
but  was  lifted  in  the  fourth  when 
the  Bums  scored  three  runs  on  six 
hits.  Hank  Wyse  finished  up  and 
got  credit  • for  the  triumph. 

ROOKIE  TRIUMPHS 

Rookie  southpaw  Arnold  Carter 
pitched  Cincinnati  to  a 6-2  victory 
over  the  Braves  at  Boston  behind 
a barrage  of  hits  that  included  two 
homers,  a triple  and  four  doubles. 
The  victory  was  Carter’s  sixth  of 
the  campaign  and  he  aided  his 
own  cause  with  a circuit  wallop 
in  the  sixth. 

Max  Marshall  hit  the  other 
homer  in  the  same  inning  off  Ben 
Cardoni.  who  had  held  the  Reds 
to  one  bingle  for  the  first  five 
frames.  The  Reds  tallied  two  more 
in  the  seventh  and  the  final  mark- 
ers in  the  ninth.  Boston  collected 
nine  hits  off  Carter,  three  by 
Tommy  Holmes,  and  scored  one 
run  in  the  first  on  Charlie  Work- 
man’s double  and  a single  by  Abe 
Wright.  Workman  also  tallied  in 
the  ninth  on  Phil  Masi’s  wallop. 


HERE’S  THE  PAYOFF... 


Q.  Did  Joe  Louis  ever  defend  his 
heavyweight  crown  against  the 
same  fighter  twice? 

— S-  Sgt  .John  P.  Conway 

A.  Joe  Louis  fought  Arturo  Go- 
doy  two  times  and  also  filled  two 
engagements  with  Buddy  Baer. 

Q.  Who  holds  the  best  accepted 
record  for  the  880-yard  and  the 
mile  runs? 

— Pfc.  James  Davitt 

A.  Elroy  Roblnaon  ran  880  yards 
in  1:49.6  and  Glenn  Cunningham 
holds  the  mile  record  at  4:6.7. 

Q.  How  many  years  did  Roger 
Pcckinpaugh  manage  the  Cleveland 
Indians?  Please  list  the  years. 

— Lt.  Frank  Gardner 

A.  Pcckinpaugh  guided  the  Tribe 
from  1928  to  1932.  He  began  the 
*33  season  but  was  replaced  by 
Walter  Johnson.  Again  in  1941 
Pcckinpaugh  took  over  succeeding 
Oscar  Vitt. 

Q.  Did  the  University  of  Tennes- 


see play  In  four  bowl  games  in  suc- 
cessive years? 

—Sgt.  C.  Crone 
A.  No.  The  records  show  the 
University  of  Tennessee  played  in 
the  Rose  Bowl  in  1940;  the  Cotton 
Bowl  in  1941  and  1943.  They  failed 
to  receive  a bid  in  1942. 

Q.  What  is  assumed  to  be  the 
record  for  dally  wagering  at  a race 
track  and  how  large  was  the  crowd? 

—Pvt.  James  Carey 
A.  On  Labor  Day  of  1943,  48,774 
racegoers  poured  2,926,702  dollars 
through  the  mutuel  machines  at 
Aqueduct  for  the  record. 

Q.  How  did  the  gate  receipts  for 
the  Tunney-Dempsey  fight  com- 
pare with  those  for  the  Louis-Conn 
! scrap? 

A.  Gene  Tunney  and  Jack  Demp- 
sey fought  before  a crowd  which 
paid  2,650,000  dollars  to  see  the 
battle.  Louis-Conn  gate  re<$ipls 
were  451,743  dollars. 


Thursday,  J&iy  27,  1944 


TOE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 


Page  7 


DONALD  DUCK 


(Courtesy  of  King  Features) 


By  WALT  DISNEY 


HENRY 


(Courtesy  of  King  Features) 


By  CARL  ANDERSON 


MAJOR  HOOPLE 


(Courtesy  of  NEA)  OUT  OUR  WAY 


(Courtesy  of  NEA) 


By  WILLIAMS 


PAREWTS  \ 
AU.US  SAV.  ) 
WHY  PCAJ'T  S 
YOU  STUDY  LIKE 
HIKA,  ER  WORK. 
ER  BE  AS 


WHAT'S  COOKIN' 


-Today. 


'Eve  On  Leave,’*  ENSA  musical 
Comedy  at  1830  hours;  Argentina 
Theater,  Largo  Argentina  No  tickets 
required. 

ENSA  Super-Cinema,  via  Vinlnale 
and  Via  Agostlno  Deprcpis;  "Hit 
Parade  of  1943,'*  continuous  perform- 
ance beginning  1230  hours.  Last  per- 
formance about  2000  hours  No  tickets 
required. 

Hod  Cross  Movie  House,  Piazza 
Barbcrini,  performances  at  1500,  1700, 
1000  hours,  "Rose  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

Augustus  Theater,  Corso  Vittorio 
Emmanuelc;  continuous  performances 
1000  to  2000  hours,  '*  You’re  A Lucky 
Fellow,  Mr.  Smith.” 

•'Come  And  Get  It,”  a revue  of  14 
scenes,  will  be  presented  by  ENSA 
at  the  Argentina  Theater,  Largo 
Argentina,  one  night  only,  Saturday, 
July  29,  at  1830  hours.  Guest  artist 
will  be  Zara  LammarL 

Polish  Club,  open  1300  to  2100  hours, 
255  Via  Panlspcrna. 

GI  Restaurants  open  1130-1430  1800- 
2030  hours: 

Rlstorante  Roma,  38  Piazza  PoJL 

Ristorante  Amedeo,  17-19  Via  Ta- 
blo  Massimo. 

Restaurant  for  American  Officers, 
Nurses  and  uniformed  guests;  open 
1130  to  1400  and  1730  to  2030  hours— 
7 Via  Parma. 

Rlstorante  San  Carlo,  120  Corso  Um- 
berto. 

American  Officers'  Club  open  1630 
to  2200.  Dancing.  Rupc  Tarpca,  13 
Via  Vaneto. 

Air  Forces  Rest  Camp  Restaurant- 
Largo  Theater  Vale,  lioo  to  1930  hours. 


RADIO  PROCRAM 


MOBILE  AMERICAN  . 

EXPEDITIONARY  STATION 
Fifth  Army 

PM 

1:00— News  (BBC) 

1:15— G.  JL  Jive 
1:30— Music  We  Love 
2:00— Yams  For  Yanks 
2:15— Great  Music  • 

2:30— The  Juke  Box 
3:00— News  (BBC) 

3:15 — Songs  Out  Of  The  West 

3:30— Major  Bowes 

4:00— Radio  News  Reel  (BBC) 

4:15— Are  You  a Genius? 

4:30— News  (CBS) 

4:45— Three  Cats  and  a Canary 
5:00 — The  Rhythm  Club 
5:30 — 5th  Army  Military  Band 
6:00— World  News  (AFRS) 

6:15— Fred  Waring  Show 
6:30— Front  Line  Theater 
7:00— Aldrich  Family 
7:30— Frank  Morgan  and  Baby  Snooks 
6:00 — Ole’  Oaken  Bucket 
9:00— News  Headlines 
9:05— Bing  Crosby  Show 
9:30— Spotlight  Bands 
9:45— News 
10:00— Village  Store 
10:30— One  Nile  Stand 
11:00— News 


B LO  N D I E 


(Courtesy  of  King  Features) 


r'.v ^225 

don’t  know  how  we’ll  be  a bid 
to  butcher  them  this  fall!” 

By  CHIC  YOUNG 


Pape  fr- 


THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 


Thursday,  July  27,  1944 


Labor  Unions  Adopt 
Seniority  Formula 
For  Returning  Vets 


WASHINGTON,  July  26  — The 
Congress  of  Industrial  Organiza- 
tions and  American  Federation  of 
Labor  have  agreed  with  Veterans 
of  Foreign  Wars  to  grant  Job  sen- 
iority rights  to  returning  veterans 
on  the  basis  of  one  months  seniority 
for  each  month  served  in  the 
Armed  Forces  after  Sept.,  1,  1940. 

The  agreement  was  embodied  In 
a statement  of  general  policy  on 
postwar  relations  between  labor 
and  veterans  announced  yesterday 
by  VFW’s  National  Commander 
Earl  Y.  Schoeninger,  Detroit. 

While  the  declaration  of  policy 
is  not  necessarily  binding  on  in- 
dividual unions  in  the  AFL  and 
CIO,  it  will  be  recommended  to 
them,  and  labor  representatives  ex- 
pressed confidence  that  it  would  be 
adopted. 

The  agreement  also  provides  that 
qualified  skilled  veterans  will  be 
entitled  to  union  membership  at 
prewar  initiation  charges  and  at 
the  current  dues  rate;  affirms  la- 
bor’s right  to  organise  and  bargain 
collectively;  and  declares  that  a dis- 
abled veteran  unable  to  hold  his 
old  job  should  be  given  considera- 
tion for  other  work  by  his  former 
employer. 

The  seniority  formula  Is  applic- 
able in  local  unions  where  work 
assignments  are  based  on  employes 
length  of  sendee,  and  covers  men 
who  never  held  a job  prior  to  en- 
tering the  service  or  those  who 
worked  but  did  not  belong  to 
unions. 

Thus  it  would  be  possible  for  a 
youth  who  entered  the  Navy  or 
Army  and  learned  a trade  to  enter 
a union  job  with  full  credit  for  his 
military  service  after  Sept.  1.  1940. 

Unions  already  have  established  a 
policy  giving  seniority  credit  for 
military  service  to  former  members 
of  unions. 

Omar  B.  Ketchum.  representative 
of  VFW,  said  the  American  Legion 
was  Invited  to  participate  in  the 
conferences  but  reported  it  was 
unable  to  do  so.  Although  United 
Mine  Workers,  Railroad  Brother- 
hoods, and  other  independent  unions 
did  not  take  part,  Ketchum  said 
they  probably  would  be  asked  to 
adopt  the  same  policies. 

Hospital  Blood  Bank 
Seeks  Soldier  Donors 

An  Army  hospital  blood  bank  is 
seeking  blood  donors  from  among 
military  personnel  in  the  Rome 
area. 

First  Sergeants  of  units  which 
have  personnel  willing  to  donate 
blood  are  asked  to  dial  34540,  377052 
or  361655  and  ask  for  "Laboratory." 


NAZI  SATELLITES 

( Continued  from  page  1) 


cal  methods  which  would  extend 
to  every  sphere  of  life,  very  quickly 
and  very  thoroughly,  not  only  in 
Germany  but  in  the  occupied  coun- 
tries. 

The  contention  of  General  Kurt 
Dittmar.  German  military  spokes- 
man, that  "less  than  a dozen  con- 
spirators were  liquidated  by  loyal 
soldiers  and  officers  of  the  Army/’ 
was  contradicted  by  the  Swiss  paper 
Journal  de  Geneve  which  declared 
that  "hundreds  of  German  officers 
of  all  ranks  have  been  executed." 

The  Nazi  newspaper  Voelkischer 
Beobachter  indicated  the  serious- 
ness of  the  internal  situation  when 
it  reported  that  the  number  of 
troops  in  the  regular  army  was 
being  decreased  and  the  number 
of  Waffen  SS  troops  increased  by 
order  of  Heinrich  Himmlei. 

BBC  announced  that  16  German 
generals  who  are  captives  In  Russia 
had  signed  an  appeal  to  German 
officers  to  overthrow  Hitler. 

Nearly  a week  after  the  first 
German  announcement  of  the  at- 
tempt on  Hitler’s  life,  the  German 
Overseas  News  Agency  said  that 
Field  Marshal  Model,  commander 
of  a German  Army  Corps  on  the 
central  Russian  front,  had  sent 
Hitler  a declaration  of  loyalty. 

Meanwhile,  the  Gennan  radio 
said  that  Field  Marshal  Albert  Kes- 
selring,  Nazi  commander  in  Italy 
who  had  been  reported  by  neutral 
sources  as  under  arrest,  was  slightly 
wounded  while  making  an  inspec- 
tion tour  of  the  front  lines.  Other 
reports  filtering  through  the  Nazi 
censorship  said  that  Col.  Gen.  von 
Schoeppenberg.  former  commander 
of  German  armored  forces  In 
France  and  Col.  Gen.  von  Macken- 
sen,  former  commander  of  the  14th 
'Army  in  Italy,  had  been  purged. 


Col.  Poletti  Stops  To  See 
Modern  Martyrs'  Tomb 


By  Pvt  GEORGE  DORSEY 


Stars  and  Stripes  Staff  Writer 


ROME,  July  26— Cheap  electric 
light  bulbs  shed  a relentless  illum- 
ination which  filtered  through  fum- 
igation gases  down  to  the  floor  of 
the  humid  passageway  in  one  of 
Rome’s  catacombs.  CoL  Charles 
Poletti  bent  his  thick  body  forward 
and  gazed  intently  at  the  four- 
months-dead  bones  of  a modern 
brand  of  martyr. 

A greying  Italian  officer  offered 
him  a piece  of  gauze  and  the  Allied 
Commissioner  of  the  Rome  Area 
pressed  it  to  his  nose  to  muffle  the 
odor  of  fumigation  and  the  sicken- 
ing stench  of  death.  After  what 
seemed  a long,  hard  look  at  the 
handiwork  of  the  Nazi-Fascists  he 
had  replaced  in  power,  CoL  Poletti 
straightened  and  turned  to  the 
handful  of  watchers  who  had  stood 
in  uneasy  silence  while  he  made 
his  inspection. 

TINE  EXAMPLE’ 

"A  fine  example  of  20th  Century 
humanity,”  the  commissioner  said 
bitterly. 

Thus,  today,  came  a new  step  in 
the  literal  unearthing  of  evidence 
which  spoke  mutely  of  the  terror 
that  reigned  in  Rome  during  the 
last  weeks  of  Fascist  Republican 
control.  These  were  the  first  ex- 
humed of  320  bodies  feared  en- 
tombed in  catacombs  in  the  south- 
ern outskirts  of  Rome. 


vestigators  have  pieced  together 
goes  like  this: 

Late  last  winter  a group  of  Ital- 
ian partisans  decided  to  make  a 
reprisal  against  their  German  op- 
pressors. A powerful  explosive 
charge  was  placed  in  a refuse  cart 
along  a route  in  downtown  Rome 
soon  to  be  traveled  by  a formation 
of  German  soldiers.  When  the  Ger- 
mans came  in  sight  a one-minute 
fuse  was  lighted  and  the  partisans 
faded  from  the  scene.  In  the  ensu- 
ing explosion  32  Nazis  were  killed. 

The  German  command  swore  re- 
venge, at  a rate  of  ten  to  one.  In 
March,  320  political  and  criminal 
prisoners  were  gathered  up  and 
taken  to  the  catacombs.  Their 
hands  tied  behind  their  backs,  they 
were  shot  in  lots  of  tens.  Then  the 
passageway  was  blown  up  at  each 
end,  converting  it  into  a huge  grave. 

Pietro  Caruso,  notorious  chief  of 
police  during  the  last  months  of 
Nazi-held  Rome,  is  believed  to  have 
submitted  lists  from  which  the 
Italians  assassinated  were  chosen. 
Now  hospitalized  in  jail  with  a 
broken  leg.  Caruso  was  injured  in 
an  automobile  accident  as  he  fled 
from  the  advancing  Allies.  He  was 
captured  by  partisans  and  turned 
over  to  Allied  authorities. 

SENTENCE  CUT 


railway. 

Col.  Poletti  had  already  appointed 
a fact  finding  committee  of  Italian, 
British  and  American  officials  to 
investigate  the  atrocity,  but  felt 
that  he  should  visit  the  scene  of 
wholesale  murder  himself. 

The  story  which  AMG  police  In- 


RED  ARMY 

( Continued  from  page  1) 


ania,  further  endangering  the  re- 
treat of  German  armies  in  the  Bal- 
tic. Southwest  of  Pskov,  other  Rus- 
sian legions  continued  their  ad- 
vance. 

Genera'  Chuikov’s  stonntroops 
from  Stalingrad  headed  the  pro- 
cession toward  Warsaw,  now  less 
than  50  miles  away,  in  company 
with  the  largest  motorized  force 
ever  assembled  by  the  Soviet  army. 
Ono  correspondent  said  the  Ger- 
mans were  so  disorganized  and  re- 
treating with  such  speed  that 
Soviet  tanks  and  cavalry  are  hav- 
ing a difficult  time  keeping  up  with 
them.  Another  correspondent  re- 
ported that  the  Russians  main- 
tained a 50-mile  front  in  their 
main  drive  on  the  Polish  capital. 
There  also  was  evidence  that  other 
groups  from  northeast  of  the  Bug 
River  and  the  sector  north  of  cap- 
tured Lublin  were  about  to  Join  up 
for  the  major  assault  on  Warsaw. 

Southeast  of  Warsaw,  Marshal 
Rokossovsky’s  right  flank  turned 
north  in  a sudden  move  which 
threatened  all  communications  of 
the  large  German  force  embattled 
at  Brest-Litovsk.  On  the  southern 
sector.  Marshal  Konlev  was  ham- 
mering at  the  outskirts  of  Stanis- 
lav, keystone  of  German  defenses 
fringing  the  Czechoslovakian  bor- 
der. 

Soviet  airmen,  flying  In  close 
support  of  ground  forces  along  the 
entire  front,  blocked  the  last  Ger- 
man main  line  or  escape  rrom  the 
Baltic  at  one  point  when  they  de- 
stroyed the  great  railway  bridge 
over  the  Niemen  at  Tilsit  in  East 
Prussia, 


Eisenhower  Visit 

LONDON,  July  26  — General 
Dwight  D.  Eisenhower,  supreme 
commander  of  Allied  invasion  for- 
ces, spent  seven  hours  in  Normandy 
yesterday  and  conferred  with  Brit- 
ish and  American  field  commanders 
as  new  twin  offensives  -were 
launched.  General  Eisenhower  flew 
to  and  from  Normandy  in  a bomber 
escorted  by  four  Spitfires. 


A strange  ramification  of  the  ca#e 
is  that  Rosario  Bentavegna,  a young 
leader  of  Communist  partisans  ana 
a key  figure  among  the  Italians 
who  ambushed  the  German  soldiers, 
was  convicted  last  week  of  slaying 
an  Italian  finance  guard  in  the  first 
hours  of  the  Allied  occupation  of 
Rome.  His  conviction  was  returned 
over  a plea  of  self  defense,  but  the 
AMG  court  held  the  sentence  down 
to  18  months  in  view  of  his  anti- 
fascist record.  Communist  news- 
papers decried  the  conviction,  cit- 
ing the  fact  that  the  infamous  Car- 
uso was  still  untried.  But  Allied 
and  Italian  officials  have  indicated 
ction  would  be  taken  against 
the  former  police  chief  as  soon  as  a 
complete  list  of  his  crimes  Is  com- 
piled. 

Italian  authorities,  meanwhile, 
ere  exhuming  the  bodies  in  the 
catacombs  as  fast  as  possible,  hop- 
ing that  even  in  their  decomposed 
stage  they  will  be  identifiable. 
Firemen  have  been  carrying  on  the 
excavation  work  and  police,  health 
and  medical  men  are  compiling 
scientific  data  to  help  families  of 
the  murdered  men  Identify  the 
bodies. 


91  CITIZENS 

(Continued  from  page  1) 


11c,  Switzerland,  Sweden,  the  Phil- 
ippines and  Russia. 

Only  woman  and  officer  sworn 
in  was  1st  Lt.  Lillian  A.  McMahon, 
Boston,  who  formerly  lived  in 
Canada.  She  was  first  to  be  con- 
gratulated by  General  Clark  after 
receiving  ft®  papers  from  Mr. 
Murrell.  Saluting  snappily  she 
shook  the  general’s  hand,  saluted 
again  and  moved  off.  Overseas 
since  May,  1944,  with  an  evacu- 
ation hospital,  Lt.  McMahon  said, 
"Naturally  it  feels  grand  to  be  a 
citizen." 

Echoing  General  Clarks  state- 
ment that  "Your  oath  did  not  cre- 
ate your  citizenship  but  merely 
recognized  that  you  are  worthy  of 
this  great  honor.”  Pvt.  Harry  Z. 
Rosenay.  Brooklyn,  declared  that 
the  feeling  "has  always  been  here" 
and  he  pointed  to  his  heart.  Bom 
In  Russia,  Rosenay  returned  to  the 
front  five  minutes  after  the  last 
note  of  the  military  band  had  died 
away. 

Pfc  Albert  P.  Sulik,  Cudahy, 
Wis.,  hod  taken  out  his  first  papers 
In  the  States  but  "the  Army  got 
me  before  I could  go  through  with 
it” 


IRISH  88 


NO  OEM  of  Shavian  wit  was 
forthcoming  upon  the  momentous 
event,  but  George  Bernard  Shaw 
yesterday  reached  the  ripe  old 
age  of  88.  Although  Shaw  ap- 
parently had  nothing  to  comment 
on  Shaw  reaching  88,  it  was  said 
by  others  he  is  as  alert  and  lively 
as  ever. 

War  Terms  'Hard,' 
Italy  Premier  Says 

ROME,  July  26 — Italy’s  Premier 
Ivnnoe  Bonomi,  speaking  to  a gath- 
ering of  officials  of  the  Italian 
Foreign  Ministry  yesterday,  said 
that  Italy  was  determined  to  pro- 
secute the  war  against  Germany 
with  every  means  at  her  disposal. 
He  pointed  out  that  Italy’s  action 
was  based  upon  a memorandum 
attached  to  the  armistice  conditions 
under  which  the  terms  would  bo 
modified  in  Italy’s  favor  depending 
upon  the  extent  of  her  aid  in  the 
war. 

Before  accepting  office  he  and  his 
colleagues  read  the  armistice  terms 
closely,  he  said,  at  the  express  wish 
of  Allied  authorities.  They  declared 
then  they  would  accept  the  pacts 
in  their  entirety. 

He  commented  that  the  armistice 
conditions  were  "very  hard.”  He 
said  he  had  been  comforted  by  a 
"solemn  promise”  on  the  part  of 
the  Allies. 

"In  the  memorandum  drawn  up 
at  Quebec  and  attached  to  the 
armistice  conditions,  he  said,  "we 
were  able  to  read  these  words, 
The  measure  in  which  these  con- 
ditions will  be  modified  in  Italy’s 
favor  will  depend  upon  the  ex- 
tent of  the  aid  given  by  the  Ital- 
ian Government  to  the  people  of 
the  United  Nations  against  Ger- 
many during  the  remainder  of  the 
war.* H 


Matricide  Case  First 
In  N.  Y.JnJOO  Years 

NEW  YORK,  July  26— Eighteen- 
year-old  John  Peter  Safranek, 
charged  with  murdering  his  mother, 
is  believed  to  be  the  first  matricide 
in  New  York  County  in  more  than 
a century.  Police  claim  the  youth 
strangled  his  mother,  Mrs.  Dora 
Safranek,  51,  when  she  found  him 
taking  two  dollars  from  her  pocket- 
book. 

The  boy  spent  most  of  his  life  In 
a reform  school  and  institutions  and 
police  said  he  admitted  bearing  a 
grudge  against  his  mother  since  she 
put  him  In  a reform  school  when 
he  was  young. 


Lola’s  Woes 

HOLLYWOOD,  July  26— Actres* 
Lola  Lane  said  today,  "we  Just 
couldn’t  get  along,”  in  explaining 
her  planned  divorce  from  third  hus- 
band Henry  Clay  Dunham,  yacht 
broker  and  aircraft  executive.  She 
was  previously  divorced  from  Lew 
Ayres,  former  actor  and  now  chap- 
lain’s assistant  overseas,  and  Alex- 
ander Hall,  movie  director. 


L’lL  ABNER 


(Courtesy  of  United  Features) 


Nips  In  New  Guinea 
Retreat  Eight  Miles 
From  River  Valley 


ADVANCED  ALLIED  HEAD- 
QUARTERS, New  Guinea,  July  26 
—The  trapped  Japanese  18th  Army 
in  northern  New  Guinea  has  re- 
treated from  the  Driniumoor  River 
Valley  and  is  reportedly  trying  to 
reform  south  of  Afua,  according  to 
today’s  communique  from  General 
Douglas  MacArthur. 

The  enemy  was  said  to  have 
withdrawn  to  a point  eight  miles 
Inland  along  the  river,  following 
another  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
break  through  the  Allied  ring. 

The  estimated  40,000  enemy  troops 
were  under  constant  naval  and 
artillery  fire  and  were  bombarded 
from  the  air.  More  than  54  tons  of 
high  explosives  were  dropped  into 
enemy  troop  concentrations  yester- 
day in  the  Wewak  area  alone. 

Latest  dispatches  from  the 
Southwest  Pacific  declared  that 
American  forces  which  have  isolated 
Japanese  troops  on  the  Orote 
peninsula  on  Guam  are  making 
good  progress. 

News  of  further  American  activity 
came  from  the  Japanese  News 
Agency,  which  quoted  an  Imperial 
headquarters  communique  claim- 
ing a strong  Allied  task  force  yes- 
terday bombarded  Sabang  liarbor, 
at  the  northwest  tip  of  Sumatra. 

Slavs  Make  Landings 
On  Dalmatian  Islands 

LONDON.  July  26 — Landing  op- 
erations on  three  islands  along  the 
Dalmatian  coast  of  Yugoslavia 
were  reported  today  in  a communi- 
que from  Marshal  Tito  broadcast 
by  the  Free  Yugoslav  radio. 

The  islands,  clustered  just  north 
of  the  port  of  Dubrovinik,  were 
Korcula,  Mjlet  and  Peljesac.  The 
communique,  which  did  not  reveal 
the  nature  of  the  landing  force, 
said  that  70  Germans  were  killed 
and  80  captured  in  the  operation. 


LEANING  TOWER 

(Continued  from  page  I ) 


Only  long-qualified  observers  us- 
ing 20-power  ’scopes  are  informing 
their  headquarters  of  troop  move- 
ments in  the  section  of  Pisa  which 
lies  north  of  the  Arno  River  just 
across  from  the  American-held 
south  section. 

By  late  afternoon,  self-propelled 
guns  had  been  reported  on  the  four 
principal  north-south  streets.  These 
guns  stayed  hidden  in  buildings, 
coming  out  long  enough  only  to  fire 
a few  quick  shots  before  seeking 
cover.  On  the  river  drive.  Jerry 
was  building  sturdy  barricades  and 
road  blocks  designed  to  prevent 
any  force  which  managed  to  cross 
the  Arno— 200  to  300  feet  wide  in 
the  city— from  reaching  the  main 
area  of  Pisa. 

Nebelwerfers,  ’’screeming  mee- 
mies,"  have  been  firing  from  the 
town  and  strongpoints  and  are 
known  to  exist  on  the  bend  of  the 
river  where  they  can  fire  due  west 
into  American  troops. 

Since  the  first  Yank  infantrymen 
entered  Pisa  Sunday  morning,  sup- 
porting artillery  has  remained 
quiet,  chafing  under  orders  which 
placed  virtually  all  of  Pisa  inside 
the  "no  fire  line.”  But  Jerry  has 
observed  no  such  control,  dropping 
120  shells  within  a two-hour  period 
Monday  and  maintaining  steady  fire 
on  the  city,  road  and  airport  He 
also  has  placed  machine  guns  on 
the  third  floors  of  buildings  near 
the  river,  zeroed  in  on  the  Yanks’ 
north-south  streets.  Since  1900 
hours  last  night  four  men  have 
been  picked  off  when  they  failed 
to  remember  that  Pisa’s  streets  are 
off  limits. 


By  AL  CAPP 


OUR  OWN  PAPPY  ' 

IS.  NOW  SUPPORTING 
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